List of The X-Files characters

The X-Files is an American science fiction television series first broadcast in September 1993 and followed by two feature films: The X-Files and The X-Files: I Want to Believe. The characters defined the overarching mythology of the series. They appeared in a range of episodes across several seasons.

The first seven seasons of The X-Files star Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully, a medical doctor and hard-line scientist assigned to work alongside Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), an esteemed FBI profiler who left his coveted position to head up a unit that investigates the paranormal and the unexplained. Tasked with debunking Mulder's work, Scully eventually comes to question her own faith, while Mulder continues to search through the archives of the Hoover building in order to find out what happened to his missing sister. The first seven seasons feature recurring appearances by Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), conspiracy theorists The Lone Gunmen (Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, and Bruce Harwood), and secretive informants Deep Throat (The X-Files) (Jerry Hardin) and X (The X-Files) (Steven Williams).

The eighth season and the ninth season represent a change in the direction of the show: Duchovny departs the regular cast and thereafter takes the role of intermittent lead. Scully, now a reluctant believer, is partnered with Special Agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick), a former NYPD detective and a strict skeptic who is still grief-stricken over the death of his son, Luke. As Doggett begins to work on the X-files, Scully continues her search for Mulder, while also carrying his child. At the end of the eighth season, Scully departs the X-files, accept a teaching position at the FBI Academy. Thereafter she acts as only a consultant to Doggett. Annabeth Gish (as Monica Reyes), and Pileggi (as Skinner), join the main cast during the ninth season after recurring previously. The tenth season once again stars Duchovny, Anderson, and Pileggi, while Patrick is notably absent. Gish guest-stars in the finale as Reyes.

Fox William Mulder is played by David Duchovny, a trained FBI profiler who believes in the existence of extraterrestrial visitors and a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth regarding extraterrestrial life. Mulder and his partner Special Agent Dana Scully work in the FBI's X-files office, which is concerned with cases with particularly mysterious or possibly supernatural circumstances that were marked as unsolvable and shelved by the FBI. Mulder considers the X-files and the truth behind the supposed conspiracy so important that he has made their study the main purpose of his life. After seven years partnered with Scully, Mulder is abducted by aliens at the end of the seventh season. Upon returning, he officially hands the X-files to Special Agent John Doggett, who was hired in his absence. Mulder returns to assist the FBI in 2008, and permanently rejoins the bureau in 2016. He and Scully have a son together, named William.

Dana Katherine Scully is played by Gillian Anderson, a medical doctor assigned to debunk the work of Special Agent Fox Mulder. Together they work out of a cramped basement office at the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., to investigate unsolved cases labeled "X-files". In contrast to Fox Mulder's "believer" character, Scully was a "skeptic", basing her beliefs solely on what science can prove. However, as the series progresses she becomes more open to the possibility of paranormal happenings. After Mulder is abducted by aliens, the eighth season sees the assignment of a new partner to Scully: Special Agent John Doggett. Later in the same season, she leaves the X-files office to teach at the FBI Academy. Scully departs from the FBI permanently in 2002. Sometime between then and 2008 she finds work as a surgeon. In 2008 she returns to consult with the FBI. She returns to the bureau permanently in 2016 alongside Mulder.

John Doggett is played by Robert Patrick, an FBI special agent who makes his first appearance in "Within," the eighth-season premiere. Doggett served in the United States Marine Corps during the 1970s and the 1980s. Later he joined the New York City Police Department and was eventually promoted to the rank of detective. After his son's death, Doggett took a job in the FBI working in the Criminal Investigations Division. In 2000 Deputy Director Alvin Kersh assigned him to the X-files office as Scully's partner after an unsuccessful task force attempt to find a missing Mulder in "Without". He grows to rely on Scully's friendship, even though he knows he can never replace Mulder. He is later partnered with Monica Reyes, and together they depart the X-files in 2002, when the unit is shut down.

Monica Reyes is played by Annabeth Gish, an FBI special agent who was born and raised in Mexico City, where her parents still reside as of 2002. Because she was raised in Mexico, Reyes speaks fluent Spanish. She majored in folklore and mythology at Brown University, and has a master's degree in Religious Studies. In 1990, Reyes enrolled in the FBI at Quantico, Virginia. Her first assignment in the FBI was serving on a special task force investigating satanic rituals. She is a longtime friend of Doggett's and serves as his partner on the X-files after Scully's departure. Shortly after the closure of the X-files in 2002 she was contacted by the Cigarette Smoking Man who offered to secure her a place among the designated survivors of end-times, in exchange for her assistance. Reyes departed the FBI shortly thereafter, electing to take Spender's offer but with the intent on halting the invasion from within the syndicate.

FBI assistant director Walter S. Skinner is played by Mitch Pileggi. He served in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. During this time he shot and killed a young boy carrying explosives, an episode which scarred him for life. Skinner is originally the direct supervisor of Mulder and Scully, and of the X-files. He later serves the same position for Special Agents John Doggett and Monica Reyes. Although he is originally portrayed as a somewhat malevolent character, Skinner eventually becomes a close friend of his subordinates. Skinner is responsible for the reopening of the X-files in 2016.