How to Watch The X-Files Movies and the Show in Chronological Order (2024)

Initially started in 1993, The X-Files follows FBI Special Agent Mulder and Scully's journey solving spooky cases. Their journey brought them to many rare encounters with monsters, spirits and people with special powers. What qualifies as an X-Files case is its strangeness and potential lack of explanation, and Agent Mulder is certainly the expert on the topic. On the other hand, Scully is skeptical. Coming from a vastly different background, Scully serves as a medical examiner and a doctor, whose mind slowly opens to the "truth out there."

The series blew up as one of the most genre-defining series to date, inspiring shows like Fringe and Twin Peaks. It also lead to two films, both of which serve as canons to the show. While watching the show and movies in chronological order, there will be some jumping back and forth between The X-Files movies and the main show to understand the full picture.

Fans Should Watch Seasons 1-5 of The X-Files First

The first five seasons are arguably the best of The X-Files. The cult classic series intrigues viewers with the possibility of proving the existence of extraterrestrial life and strange monsters while journeying into the unknown. Agent Mulder has been obsessively working on the X-Files. He's one of the best agents, yet he chooses the X-Files instead of a bright career in the FBI. In Season 1, he's joined by Agent Scully, a medical doctor who is there to discredit his work. Each episode of the early seasons sees the two solving the same cases, but they see different sides and come to different conclusions. What Mulder may see as proof that the truth is out there means something else to Scully, who writes her report with a critical mind.

This, of course, changes over the course of the five seasons. Scully herself is abducted. She also has a secret child, one who she doesn't meet until way later in the series. The extraterrestrial life's main plot then turns into a government conspiracy theory that keeps getting bigger and bigger. The show also introduces its own villains, with one Cigarette Smoking Man being at the heart of all the destruction of evidence and cleaning up. Scully and Mulder are two agents working to find out the truth. The series also introduces Mulder's main motive: his sister went missing when he was a child, and he believed that aliens were behind it. Even though it happened years ago, Mulder never gives up on his attempt to find the truth. During this journey, he solves a series of child murders, which may have something to do with his sister Samantha. He tracks down government test centers while Scully is able to obtain scientific evidence, but every time they are close to the truth, it's taken from them.

By the time Season 5 ends, Scully and Mulder are basically on the same team, sharing the same truth. Interestingly, The X-Files was originally going to end after five seasons as the franchise transitioned into a film series. However, the show was at its peak, and Fox simply couldn't let it end at that time, so the network renewed the series for another four years. Despite the original plan, the franchise continued. The Season 5 finale, "The End," sees the X-Files' destruction. The Cigarette Smoking Man tells Spender(Mulder's half-brother) that he's his father, taking away Samantha's file from Mulder's office and setting everything on fire. It seems like a good enough end for the series, though stopping at this point would mean missing out on some really good storylines.

The X-Files: Fight the Future Takes Place Between Seasons 5 and 6

Before hopping back to Season 6, The X-Files: Fight the Future should not be missed. Watching the X-Files films is very important to ensure the continuity of the story. Without it, there would be references that fans may not understand. The X-Files: Fight the Future takes place after the events in the Season 5 finale. Picking up from "The End," the film sees Mulder and Scully at the point of losing their faith in the mission, working as two regular FBI agents during a bomb situation. However, knowing The X-Files, no bomb situation is what it seems on the outside. It turns out that the building bombing was just a cover-up for some bodies that someone in the government needed to get rid of, and it again links to aliens.

The film sees Mulder and Scully going to Dallas, Texas and then Antarctica. Scully again becomes a victim since a bee is hidden in her jacket back in Dallas. After being bitten, she's transferred to a secret location, and Mulder is tasked with saving her. Aside from all the things that Season 6, Episode 1, "The Beginning" will later refer to (when they talk about Antarctica), Mulder and Scully further bond over their time working on the X-Files together. The film also sees the first almost on-screen kiss between the two. It seems that despite the fact that Scully has been sent to spy on Mulder, she has become a true believer and Mulder's partner. They save each other and have each other's backs. This film gives viewers a glimpse of what their relationship could be and sheds more light on their care for each other, paving the way for their romance in the later seasons.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe Is a Stand-Alone Film After Season 9

After consuming The X-Files: Fight the Future, it's safe to jump back into the main series and proceed with Season 6. Taking place after Antarctica and the destruction of the files in the X-Files, Mulder works to recover those files. The X-Files department was reopened at the end of the first film. However, Mulder is forbidden to work in it. This continues into the plot of Season 6 as the two keep digging. Seasons 6-9 see an arguably chaotic era in the series. The government conspiracy theory and alien plot get more and more complicated so even some die-hard fans find it difficult to digest. On the other hand, viewers finally get some answers about what happened to Samantha, though the truth isn't pretty. Fox Mulder starts exiting The X-Files after Season 7. He only shows up a few times during Season 8, while Scully is paired with another agent. Despite the effort to keep the show going, the new agent simply doesn't captivate fans the same way Duchovny's Mulder does.

By the time Mulder is away, his bond with Scully is too tight to break. It's just not the same without him. The X-Files brought Duchovny back for four episodes in Season 9 and the finale, "The Truth," which became some fans' preferred ending for the series. The later seasons are able to tackle many unsolved mysteries with more depth, including Mulder and Scully's child, William, and what happened to him. The Cigarette Smoking Man also has a bit more connection to Mulder than he'd like. The series really started going wild after Season 5. While some fans may find everything a bit too far-stretched, many enjoy the drama and jaw-dropping twists.

Sadly, with the show coinciding with 9/11, moving forward with a government conspiracy show didn't seem like a good idea. Fox canceled the show after nine seasons, but the franchise got to continue in a different way a few years later. The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a nice reunion of Scully and Mulder in 2008. Six years after Season 9, the film functions as a standalone piece in The X-Files timeline. Though not a fan-favorite, the film is interesting enough and captures some early spirit of the series. In 2016, The X-Files was revived for a 10th season.

The X-Files Returned in 2016 for Season 10

It's rare for a show to have three intended endings. Neither Season 5 nor Season 9 became the true end of the series. In 2016, The X-Files came back with both Scully and Mulder again. The revival also brought back the original formula of telling well-crafted stories. In 2018, the series came back with its 11th season, featuring its third and wildest ending. In "My Struggle IV," Scully informs Mulder of the truth about William's parentage, which shocks him to the core.

Another revelation also sees Scully being pregnant again. Due to the series' notoriety for making the truth be something else constantly, the revelation wasn't convincing enough for fans, and the treatment of Scully's pregnancy attracted plenty of controversy. The network had the intention of rebooting The X-Files series for a 12th season with an entirely new cast, but this is looking less likely as time goes by, though with The X-Files, never say never.

Here's How to Watch The X-Files Show and Movies in Chronological Order:

• The X-Files Season 1-5
• The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)
• The X-Files Season 6-9
• The X-Files: I Want to Believe
• The X-Files Season 10-11

The X-Files

TV-14

Sci-Fi

Drama

Two F.B.I. Agents, Fox Mulder the believer and Dana Scully the skeptic, investigate the strange and unexplained, while hidden forces work to impede their efforts.

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 10, 1993

Cast

David Duchovny , Gillian Anderson , Mitch Pileggi , William B. Davis

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Seasons

11

Creator

Chris Carter

Network

FOX

Streaming Service(s)

Amazon Prime Video , Hulu