Episode 2 of the long-awaited eleventh season of Langley suddenly back in play due to the events of "This," the latest episode of the revived series, now is a good time to look back on the long, complicated, and often wacky history of The Lone Gunmen.
Origins
In the X-Files, The Lone Gunman is a fringe newspaper (rife with stories ranging from Bigfoot to "Mandroids" and every wild conspiracy in between) owned and operated by three people: John Fitzgerald Byers, Melvin Frohike, and Richard Langley. Originally introduced in the season 1 episode, "E.B.E." as informants of Mulder, the trio were only intended to feature in this one-off appearance, but they proved popular enough to be upgraded into recurring characters, who featured in 38 episodes during the show's original nine seasons.
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The season 5 episode, "Unusual Suspects," explored the origins of the characters. The episode was a prequel to the main series and focused on the three characters ing forces for the first time, as well as their initial meeting with Agent Mulder. It was the first time an episode had been anchored around the Lone Gunmen, and it was so successful, that the episode received a sequel in season 6, "Three of a Kind."
The Gunmen
John Fitzgerald Byers, played by Bruce Harwood, is the moral center of the group. He was born on November 22nd, 1963, the same day John F. Kennedy was shot and killed by "A Lone Gunman." He grew up with a belief in the American Dream, but also an understanding that there were forces out there who would try to take advantage of the weak and naive in an effort to ruin that dream, but if good people would stand up to faceless corporations, sinister conspiracies, and the rich and powerful in an effort to protect those who couldn't protect themselves, then, even if they couldn't save the world, at least they wouldn't let the values of The United States of America go down without a fight.
Melvin Frohike is a bit older than the rest, which theoretically gives him a bit of "think first" wisdom, but he's also the first to jump into an action-packed situation. He is a man of the world and has acquired various skills over his many years, including his stint as a world-class Tango dancer (under the stage name, El Lobo). He may look like a nebbish old man, but he's a tough talker, and bold beyond his lack of combat prowess, for better or worse. Fun Fact: Frohike is played by Tom Braidwood, who was an assistant director on The X-Files before being cast as the character. The legend goes they were "looking for someone like Tom," before ultimately going with Tom himself!
Finally, there's Richard "Ringo" Langley, hacker extraordinaire. Even Frohike bows to Langley's mastery of all things computer-related. Played by Dean Haglund, Langley is the rebel of the group, and his favorite band is The Ramones, and he embodies the punk rock spirit of hackers and activists. Of his hero, Joey Ramone, Langley once said, "He never gave in, he never gave up, and he never sold out, right up to his last breath. And he's not dead. Guys like that live forever."
Spin-Off
In 2001, The Lone Gunmen got their own spin-off series, though it sadly failed to catch on and was cancelled after just one half-season of only 13 episodes. Regardless, the series is a jolly romp which manages to showcase the lighter side of the conspiracy-laden world of The X-Files. Rather than aliens and monsters, The Lone Gunmen deals with patriotism and those who seek to exploit good-natured Americans for their own nefarious purposes. It's also a hilarious show which gets better every episode. If only it had been renewed, then a prospective second season could have been even better!
The series introduced two new characters to the X-Files pantheon: Yves Adele Harlow (an anagram of Lee Harvey Oswald, played by Zuleikha Robinson), a femme fatale who found herself working with or against the heroes, depending on the episode, and James "Jimmy" Bond. Portrayed by Stephen Snedden, Bond is slightly absurd and overly naive, but sincere and warm-hearted, and Snedden does an amazing job of making the character feel believable and not a just a caricature of his more over-the-top traits.
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These days, the ill-fated series is best known for its pilot episode, which involves a weapons manufacturer attempting to crash a jet airliner into the World Trade Center in order to start a war and drum up sales of its products. The twist? The episode aired in March of 2001, six months before the eerily similar terrorist attacks on September 11. To this day, conspiracy theorists continue to have a field day with that one.
Jump The Shark
After the cancellation of their show, The Lone Gunmen continued to appear in The X-Files, though their roles were usually smaller. Of note is their appearance in the ninth season premiere, "Nothing Important Happened Today." In the episode, Langley's face is covered in blue paint, a reference to "All About Yves," the series finale of The Lone Gunmen, in which Langley receives the unflattering paint job.
Their final (living) appearance on The X-Files came in the heartbreaking "Jump The Shark," the 15th episode of Season 9. Despite brief moments of levity (courtesy of Michael McKean's recurring slimeball, Morris Fletcher), it's a surprisingly morbid and high-tension affair, and it feels very much like a grand finale for The Lone Gunmen, even bringing back Yves and Jimmy Bond. The way it ties into the mythology of The X-Files is novel, and the episode follows through on The Lone Gunmen's themes of patriotism and fighting losing battles through to the bitter end because those are the battles worth fighting. As Byers says in the episode,"We never gave up, we never will. In the end, if that's the best they can say , it'll do."
The episode ends with The Gunmen dying, sacrificing themselves to save countless innocents by sealing themselves in with a suicidal terrorist armed with a deadly bio weapon. The trio are then buried at Arlington National Cemetery, honored as the heroes they were.
Ghosts
There was a bit of speculation that The Lone Gunmen had somehow survived or faked their deaths as seen in "Jump The Shark," and this approach was even taken in the "Season 10" comic book series, but those stories are now considered completely non-canon due to the release of an actual Season 10 of the TV series in 2016. In the double-length series finale, "The Truth," a fugitive Mulder runs into the ghosts of several dead characters from the series, including Krycek, X, and indeed The Lone Gunmen. If they had faked their death, as was revealed in the comic series, then their ghosts are just Mulder's hallucinations, and that makes the episode less profound, especially in its closing moments, in which Mulder gives a rousing monologue about the voices of the dead, the fallen, being more powerful than any government conspiracy or alien colonization efforts.
It was heavily rumored that The Lone Gunmen would return in 2016's Season 10, though many fans were underwhelmed by their fun, if fleeting, appearance in Mulder's drug-induced dream sequence. It was a nice nod to the characters, but they didn't really get to do anything of significance, so to some, it was a wasted opportunity. Season 11, Episode 2: "This," features Richard Langley in a ing role, though the circumstances of his surprise return are part of the episode's overarching mystery, so it would be unfair to spoil it here.
Will The Lone Gunmen ever make a proper return to The X-Files? Unless it's a flashback or a dream sequence, probably not. After all, their shocking deaths and subsequent funeral in "Jump the Shark," while controversial at the time, proved to be one of the most emotionally-wrenching moments of the whole series, and suddenly bringing them back to life would undermine just how important that moment was to The X-Files.
The Lone Gunmen are dead, but their spirit, their message, and their unending fight to keep The American Dream safe from corruption by the rich and powerful, will never die.