X (The X-Files)

X
The X-Files character
First appearance	"The Host"
Last appearance	"The Truth"
Portrayed by	Steven Williams Natalija Nogulich (deleted scenes)
Information
Occupation	FBI Agent
Affiliated with	Men in Black Federal Bureau of Investigation, The X-Files

X, sometimes referred to as Mr. X, is a fictional character on the American science fiction television series The X-Files. He serves as an informant, leaking information to FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder to aid Mulder's investigation of paranormal cases, dubbed X-Files. The character serves as a replacement for his predecessor on the series, Deep Throat, who had been killed off in the first season finale, "The Erlenmeyer Flask". X himself would be killed off after appearing in several seasons, eventually being replaced by Marita Covarrubias.

X is portrayed in the series by Steven Williams, and made his début in the second season episode "The Host", although the character would not appear on-screen until "Sleepless", two episodes later. The role had original been conceived as female, with Natalija Nogulich cast in the role; although her initial scenes were deemed unsatisfactory by the producers, leading to her replacement. Williams' portrayal of X was intended to introduce a personality completely different to the character's predecessor, Deep Throat, and has been positively received by critics and fans.

Conceptual history

The character of X was originally intended to be a woman, and Natalija Nogulich had been cast in the role. However, after shooting her first scene the role was recast with Williams, an actor who had previous experience with writers Glen Morgan and James Wong; although it was series creator Chris Carter who suggested Williams for the part. Nogulich was replaced because the writing staff felt she was not able to create the "right chemistry" with her co-stars.

Williams' portrayal of the role was intended to act as a counterpoint to Jerry Hardin's portrayal of X's predecessor, Deep Throat. Whereas Deep Throat had been a selfless character, X was written and performed as a scared, selfish character. Prior to the episode "One Breath", Glen Morgan had felt that the character of X was not "going over too well" with fans of the series, as he seemed to simply be a copy of Deep Throat. Believing Williams to be an actor worth having as a series regular, he included in the episode a scene in which X murders witnesses who have seen him speaking to Fox Mulder. Morgan felt that such a scene reflected X's paranoia and the difference between him and his predecessor, noting that "Deep Throat was a guy willing to lose his life for letting out the secret, whereas X is a guy who's still scared". Williams has stated that he has never attempted to rationalise the character's motives or imagine a backstory for him, preferring to play the role with as little background as possible, stating "the less I know about him, the more interesting he becomes."

Williams' background in fight choreography, stemming from his role in Missing in Action 2: The Beginning, allowed him to prepare for, and to help create, the character's actions scenes, including choreographing the character's brawl with Mitch Pileggi's character Walter Skinner in the episode "End Game". Williams has also stated that his portrayal of the role is based in part on Avery Brooks' character Hawk on the series Spenser: For Hire.

Character arc

X was introduced on the series via a phone call made to Fox Mulder in the second season episode "The Host", telling Mulder that he had "a friend in the FBI". However, the character would not appear on-screen until "Sleepless", two episodes later, aiding Mulder in an investigation by leaking information on a secret military project from the Vietnam War. While X's loyalties and his own agenda were often unclear, he has more than once proven that he at least does not want Mulder dead. In the episode "End Game", he is approached by Dana Scully, who pleads that she needs to know where Mulder is, believing his life to be in danger. Initially X refuses, and is subsequently confronted by Walter Skinner, who seemed to recognize X. He relinquishes Mulder's location, though not until after a brief but intense scuffle with Skinner. In the episode "731", X's loyalty to Mulder is further confirmed. Trapped on a train car equipped with a time bomb, Mulder, about to escape, is attacked brutally by an MIB assassin. X fatally shoots the Red Haired Man as he is about to step off the car. X boards the car with only enough time left to save either Mulder or the alien-human hybrid the car was transporting, opting to save Mulder, and carries him off to safety just as the car explodes.

In the season 4 opener "Herrenvolk", X's position as an informant is discovered by the Syndicate. When suspicion arises after the finding of photographs that were taken of The Smoking Man by X, false information is planted at the First Elder's behest, in order to root out the leak. Attempting to relay the information to Mulder, X goes to his apartment and is surprised by fellow MIB operative, the Gray Haired Man, who fatally shoots him. With his last strength, X crawls to Mulder's doorstep and writes in his own blood "SRSG", meaning "Special Representative to the Secretary General" of the United Nations, and thus, this clue leads Mulder to Marita Covarrubias. After his death, X appears two more times—in The Lone Gunmen origin story "Unusual Suspects," set before his death, and as a ghost in the series finale, "The Truth".

Reception

If Deep Throat was a cheat code to the quest for truth, X is an [sic] walkthrough written by somebody who doesn't want to share his secrets, doesn't like you, and might not even be playing the same game.

—A.V. Club's Zack Handlen on the series' informants.

The character of X has been well-received by critics. Entertainment Weekly included the character in the list of the top 20 Black Sci-Fi Icons in 2009, at number 17. Todd vanDerWerff, writing for The A.V. Club, has praised the "gravitas" of Williams' acting, adding that he wished that the writers "had figured out a way to have him around more often than they did". His fellow writer Zack Handlen felt that the character's assassination in "Herrenvolk" was "appropriately shocking", calling the scene "one of the most memorable death's [sic] in the series"; although he felt that the immediate introduction of the character's successor, Marita Covarrubias, "deflates the importance of X's loss" in the episode. Handlen has also called X "the best of Mulder's informants", explaining that this is "because he's always pissed off, he's always reluctant to provide information, and you can't ever be sure what play he's really running". Starpulse's Andrew Payne named X the show's best secondary character, noting that "His manipulative and mysterious nature always left viewers floored and never revealed his true motivations". Series writer Frank Spotnitz has called X "the meanest, nastiest, most lethal killer on the planet".

Steven Williams has noted that he feels the episodes "Nisei" and "731" were chiefly responsible for the character's popularity with fans. In 1997, Williams was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for his work as X, alongside Gillian Anderson, William B. Davis, David Duchovny and Mitch Pileggi.

Footnotes

References

• Edwards, Ted (1996). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316218081. 
• Lovece, Frank (1996). The X-Files Declassified. Citadel Press. ISBN 080651745X. 
• Lowry, Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053309. 
• Meisler, Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053864. 
• Meisler, Andy (1999). Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 4. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061073091.