The Truth Is Out There: Things You Never Knew About ‘The X-Files’

13. The Lone Gunmen

Whenever Mulder and Scully needed some particular piece of oddball insight, they went to conspiracy nuts (and possible geniuses) The Lone Gunmen. When Chris Carter wanted to have a little more fun on screen, he spun those fellas off into their own series. Unfortunately, that series failed to connect with either fans or studio heads and was cancelled after a brief 13-episode run.

14. The Cigarette Smoking Man Began As An Extra

The man who was constantly prowling the shadows, marked only by the stench of stale cigarettes that trailed in his wake, was originally just some dude hanging out in the office when Scully gets assigned to the X-Files. Over the course of the show, though, CSM became Scully’s primary antagonist, the evil man pulling the strings from behind closed doors.

15. Want to Know What the Highest-Rated Episode Was?

That honor goes to “Leonard Betts” which had an audience of 29.1 million tuning in. The fact that it aired right after Super Bowl XXXI might have been a factor.