The X-Files is back in the conversation after all 11 seasons were made available to stream for free — sparking an influx of newcomers and veterans rewatching and reappraising their favorite episodes and moments from the series.
Mulder and Scully’s spooky sci-fi adventures were made available on free streamer Pluto TV last week, with 218 episodes including the 2016 revival on demand and on a 24/7 linear channel dedicated to the series. This has fueled renewed interest in one of the most popular TV shows of the 90s from fans, who are — as they did 30 years ago — venturing online to discuss its various plot twists.
As a veteran X-Files fan myself, I’ve enjoyed seeing newcomers express their delight in watching the show for the first time, getting to grips with its overarching alien abductions and government cover-ups storyline, as well as its classic ‘Monster of the Week’ episodes.
“We just finished episode one of season one and...wow! We loved it,” said one fan. “It even looks and sounds better than modern TV shows, I suppose because it was shot on location and not on sets. But it just feels better acted, as well as looking better. If going back in time to enjoy TV is going to be even HALF as good as this experience, then that is what we will be doing from now on! I want to believe.”
Veteran fans are expressing their jealousy at those experiencing the X-Files for the first time, knowing what is to come — and issuing warnings for the occasional spoof episode in which David Duchovny’s Mulder and Gillian Anderson’s Scully let their hair down. “Mulder and Scully are quite the comic duo when they want to be,” one fan told a newcomer.
i love when im watching the x-files and they causally drop some of the most cinematic shots in history pic.twitter.com/Y3UgO10zuq
— nika⸆⸉ 🦔🍁 (@guiltyasScout) January 4, 2026
Of course, fans are re-ranking their favorite episodes as well as monsters (no spoilers here!). They’re also wondering whether the series would have been better off ending before its divisive ninth season. And there is of course plenty of healthy… debate about the rights and wrongs of poor old Krycek.
It’s worth remembering that X-Files was one of the first shows with an online “fandom,” with its reaction culture perhaps foreshadowing the future of the internet. X-Files promoted theorycrafting, in-jokes, and memes. There were plenty of hoaxes, the odd backlash, and… shipping. The fandom became as big a part of the experience as watching the show itself, laying the groundwork for 30 years of discourse.
And perhaps the X-Files will get to do it all over again. Ryan Coogler, the director of Creed, Black Panther, and Sinners, is currently working on an X-Files revival for television, and Gillian Anderson has expressed her interest in reprising her role.
“We intend on having both Monsters of the Week and the overarching conspiracy,” Coogler recently said of X-Files. “I’m grappling with that. But that's what I'm doing now. Panther comes after that. I’m blessed to be working on things this cool.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/now-all-11-seasons-of-the-x-files-are-free-to-stream-newcomers-are-falling-in-love-with-the-show-for-the-first-time-and-veterans-are-re-ranking-their-favorite-episodes