full-on revival of The X-Files when season 11 was later announced.

However, because of that long gap between seasons 9 and seasons 10 and 11, The X-Files season 9 can be looked at as a soft series finale, even though it is structured more like a season finale. That puts a lot of pressure on the once-vaunted series, and the season, consequently, doesn't always stack up to expectations. This season follows Scully (Gillian Anderson), John Doggett (Robert Patrick), and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) as they try to uncover a government conspiracy involving the creation of sinister Super Soldiers. An exciting plot, but one that didn't grab audiences.

The X-Files Season 9 Has The Lowest Rotten Tomatoes Score During The Show's Run

Season 9 Is The Only Season With A "Rotten" Critic Score

The X-Files is an acclaimed series with a 74% overall on Rotten Tomatoes. The show earned 12 Golden Globe nominations and won five times, winning three times for Best Television Series - Drama, and Duchovny and Anderson winning once each. The series did even better at the Emmys, earning 61 nominations and 15 wins. Many of those Emmy wins came in technical categories, but it's still an impressive résumé for the science fiction drama series, a genre often overlooked at awards ceremonies. Every season of The X-Files is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, save for 1.

The X-Files season 9 currently has a 22% on Rotten Tomatoes, by far the lowest score of any season of the series. The next lowest score of the series is season 10, which has a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even the much-maligned 2008 movie, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, has a 32% on Rotten Tomatoes. 22% is a very low score, and the season is a bit of a let-down. Perhaps it wouldn't be looked at so harshly if season 10 came right after, but now, it has the ignominious honor of being the worst-rated season.

Why The Reception Surrounding The X-Files Season 9 Was So Negative

David Duchovny Exited The Series After Season 9

There's one major issue with The X-Files season 9 that is at the core of why it's such a steep drop-off. At the end of The X-Files season 8, David Duchovny stepped away from the show for season 9. He appeared in season 9 episodes 6, "Trust No 1" and 15, "Jump the Shark" in archival footage and had a brief cameo in episode 16, "William". Mulder returned for the finale, but he was nowhere else to be found for the rest of the season, meaning Anderson, Patrick, and Gish had to shoulder the story alone.

David Duchovny appeared as Mulder in the reflection of Scully's eye in "William".

At this point in the show's lifecycle, some critics had already considered that The X-Files was in a steep decline, and this was just a natural culmination of the series floundering. The beautifully constructed friendship between Mulder and Scully was at the heart of The X-Files, and no amount of new characters or world-changing storylines could fill that void. In a letter to the editor of the New York Times, a fan of the series, Elizabeth Weinbloom, wrote,

"Post-Sept. 11 irrelevance and shoddy writing notwithstanding, it was this halfhearted culmination of what was once a beautifully complicated friendship that satisfied no one and effectively ended all remaining interest in an already waning phenomenon."

That 9/11 note is a reference to how the show's creator, Chris Carter, suggested that in the aftermath of 9/11, people were no longer in the mood for The X-Files (via io9),

"There was lots more we could have done but we ended at the right time. Things had changed after 9/11... and now the mood is right once more."

That's a theory, for sure, and viewers were likely not concerned with what was on TV after such a tragic event. There are definitely some other reasons for the season's bad reception, though. Another review that originally appeared in the New York Times ended with the line, "The most imaginative show on television has finally reached the limits of its imagination" (via strange storylines to come out of The X-Files season 9, and they never felt connected to the main plot.

The X-Files season 9 ultimately feels tacked on, without any real reason to exist beyond the desire of the creative team to keep the show going. Without a real ending, it's an even more frustrating season because it doesn't give much closure beyond returning Mulder to the show at the very end of the season.

Was The X-Files Canceled Because Of Season 9's Poor Reviews?

The X-Files Dropped Nearly 5 Million Viewers Between Seasons 8 And 9

The X-Files was canceled shortly before the season 9 finale aired, and a steep ratings decline was ultimately blamed for the decision. Season 8 averaged 14 million viewers per episode, while season 9 dropped to 9 million viewers per episode. This huge drop in viewership, combined with flagging reviews, was the death knell for the series (at least until the 2008 movie and the reboot). So, while it wasn't necessarily the bad reviews that got the show off the air, they certainly did not help. David Duchovny's absence from the show likely spun off viewers as well.

Plenty of shows have fallen apart after the main character has left, and time and time again, it proves that what audiences really get invested in is characters. The plot and style are just window dressing at a certain point, and when a main actor goes, fans lose interest. Carter put some of the blame on the September 11 terrorist attacks; critics pointed to an increasingly incoherent story; and fans lost interest in large swathes. All these issues painted an undeniable picture for Fox executives, who eventually decided that it was time to end the acclaimed series.

The X-Files' 2008 Movie & Reboot Explained

Ryan Coogler Is Set To Be The Showrunner For The New Series

Despite the sudden end of The X-Files in 2002, fans of the series weren't forced to go completely cold turkey. In 2008, a theatrical film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, was released. Unlike the first movie from 1998, I Want to Believe is a stand-alone thriller film that acts more like a monster-of-the-week episode, just extended to one hour and forty minutes. The movie follows Mulder and Scully long after they've left the FBI. When an agent is kidnapped, Scully is asked to take on the case, and brings back Mulder to help.

Fans received a much more serviceable addition to the mythos with seasons 10 and 11, which premiered in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

Though it was negatively received, with a lot of criticism going to the meandering and clichéd plot, the film still earned over $69 million at the box office (via BoxOfficeMojo). Fans received a much more serviceable addition to the mythos with seasons 10 and 11, which premiered in 2016 and 2018, respectively. After their time away from the FBI, Mulder and Scully are reinstated as agents and learn more about the existence of extraterrestrial life. The seasons were well-received by critics and fans alike and felt like a return to form for The X-Files.

Now, there's a new The X-Files reboot in the works. Ryan Coogler, who recently directed the period horror film, Sinners, is set to be the showrunner for the reboot. Not much is known about the reboot at the moment save that it will not be a continuation of the Mully and Sculder universe, and will instead offer a whole new story in a familiar setting. Coogler recently said about the reboot (via Variety),

"I've been excited about that for a long time and I'm fired up to get back to it... Some of those episodes, if we do our jobs right, will be really f***ing scary."

At this point, the bad taste of The X-Files season 9 has been washed out, and fans are more than ready to dive back into the universe.