The X-Files

The X-Files

The tenth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on January 24, 2016, on Fox. The season consists of six episodes and concluded airing on February 22, 2016. When Fox initially announced the string of episodes, the network referred to them collectively as an "event series".After the episodes' release, Fox began referring to the string of episodes on their website as "season 10", as did streaming sites like Amazon.com and Hulu, and myriad critics.

The season, which takes place fourteen years after the ninth season (2001–02) and seven years after the film The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008), follows newly re-instated Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they learn more about the existence of extraterrestrials and their relationship with the government.

Ever since The X-Files: I Want to Believe debuted in theaters, there was talk of a third X-Files movie to wrap-up the series' remaining storylines. However, for years these talks never resulted in action until on March 24, 2015, Fox announced that the series would return as a short-format event series with six episodes. After the season aired, it received largely mixed reviews from critics. The second, third, and fourth episodes were met with mostly positive comments, with "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" receiving overwhelmingly positive comments. Conversely, the first, fifth, and sixth episodes were largely derided by critics. The mythology episodes, in particular, were poorly received.