Will the New "X-Files" Series Film in DC?

Fox announced Tuesday that the beloved series The X-Files will return for six episodes this summer. That’s great news for fans, but it’s complicated for people who demand verisimilitude from their filmed entertainment: The Washington-set show was mostly shot in Canada and California.

The bar where Special Agent Fox Mulder met Syndicate member Dr. Alvin Kurtzweil? It’s in LA. The FBI offices Mulder stunk up with his conspiracy theories? Actually an office building in Vancouver.

Reached by email, Fox spokesperson Jason Clark says there’s “No info yet” on whether any of the series will be shot in or around DC this time around. But this time, our area has some leverage: In 2008, series honchos Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, as well as Twentieth Century Fox, donated X-Files items to the National Museum of American History, including an annotated script and assorted “FBI” paraphernalia.

While those items remain in the history museum’s permanent collection, they are “not currently on display,” museum spokesperson Laura Duff tells Washingtonian in an email. If only there were someone in this town good at rooting out the stuff our government keeps hidden from us…

Andrew Beaujon

Senior editor

Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. His book A Bigger Field Awaits Us: The Scottish Soccer Team That Fought the Great War was published in 2018. He lives in Del Ray.