Updates and *BUMP*
Spoilers
I just viewed the first of a two-part intro to season nine. To sum up: Duchovny is definitely gone, Gillian is leaving, and we have a new "Mulder and Scully" handling the X-Files.
Annabeth Gish plays Special Agent Monica Reyes (aka "The New Scully", no matter how much Chris Carter claims otherwise -- she could pass for an imperfect, less striking clone of GA). Among the cases Reyes handled in the NY FBI field office was the disappearance of 8-year-old Luke Dogget, son of then-NY police detective John Doggett. He later convinced Reyes to join him on the X-Files.
Reyes joins Special Agent John Doggett, a hard-nosed, ex-NY cop who believes every case can be solved using standard investigative techniques. He was assigned to head up the FBI task force probing Mulder's disappearance.
Also joining the cast is Cary Elwes (
The Princess Bride, Liar Liar, Hot Shots, Twister) as Assistant Director Brad Follmer, ex-SAC of the NY field office, where he carried on an illicit affair with Agent Monica Reyes.
Lucy Lawless (Xena, warrior princess) stars in the season nine opener as a mysterious woman who drags you down -- literally.

My take, in brief: where o where are Mulder and Scully? I'm lukewarm about Gish, although Patrick as Doggett is compellingly watchable. The writing on the show appears to have retained the fine quality of its glory days, but that may just be because the season nine intro episodes were written by veteran heavy hitters Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. The concept though for this opening two-parter strikes me as particularly silly. However, I am willing to stick around for at least the next episode to see if Carter and co. will deliver a satisfying explanation.
My forecast: without both Duchovny and GA, this will be the show's last season. Gish is boring and not as easy on the eyes as GA. Of course, I could be wrong -- you know that nothing ever really dies on
The X-Files.
