The 'X-Files' Revival Isn't About Fans Or Closure, It's About Netflix

The X-Files is returning to Fox as a limited-series event with a six-episode order that’s set to begin production later this year. Of course the news met yesterday with massive excitement among fans – particularly on social media. However, while it’s exciting, the truth of the matter is this revival has nothing to do with making those fans happy. It also has nothing to do with bringing closure to the show’s loose plot threads. In fact, it doesn’t even have anything to do with Fox trying to land a giant Nielsen score upon the revival’s premiere. No, all the X-Files reboot has to do with is a deal for the show’s exclusive streaming rights.

Back in November 2013, we discussed the reason why Nikita, The CW’s painfully low-rated action series, was given a final six-episode season that wouldn't ultimately bring its total to the 88-episode minimum required for traditional syndication. The conclusion was rather simple: a series that concludes with a six-episode wrap-up would be more viable to outlets like Netflix and Amazon since a show that has ended properly is more likely to be watched by customers on the service than one that didn’t. Similarly, this is what The X-Files revival is really about.

Just prior to its return last May, Fox struck a lucrative streaming deal with Amazon for the entire canon of 24. Previously, the show had been available on both Amazon and Netflix. The fact that Live Another Day was to follow only a short few weeks later made what was a dead property a hot commodity. Essentially, 24 became found money. The mistake, however, was in the money Fox spent to bring Jack Bauer back to life, and this is a mistake it isn’t about to make again - the explaining the short-order 6 episode season.

A revival of ­The X-Files means all of the show’s previous work is valuable again. Old fans are going to start re-watching it, and newcomers are going to start seeking it out in order to get caught up before the premiere. The reason this matters is because Fox can use that leverage to strike yet another highly valuable streaming deal with one of the big three (Netflix, Amazon and Hulu) to make some serious money off the currently dead series. Just as Transformers movies are about selling toys more than movie tickets, a new X-Files is all about selling Netflix subscriptions more than it is about Nielsen ratings. Fox doesn’t actually care that people want a new season of The X-Files, but they do care that Netflix would pay big money to stream the show exclusively in order to allow people the chance to catch-up beforehand. Like 24, X-Files is now nothing more than found money for 20^th Century Fox Television.

It’s actually this logic that will be the reason why shows like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Reaper will never be revived. A network revives an old, cult show to make the original investment viable. Fox network won’t benefit from the airing of new X-Files episodes, but its sister studio will – which ends up benefiting Fox network in the long run. Fox would never air more Sarah Connor Chronicles because it’s a Warner Bros. show, so the only entity that benefits from a streaming deal that would happen because of such an announcement would be Warner Bros.

24: Live Another Day was the show’s lowest rated season, but it didn’t matter because Amazon paid big money for it anyway based on expectation. The same will be true for Heroes Reborn later this year, and it will be true again for The X-Files. Don’t kid yourself into thinking Fox cares about your desire to see Mulder and Scully’s journey come to a proper conclusion. To them, you’re nothing more than leverage for the likes of Amazon, Netflix and anyone else who would pay for the right to steam exclusively.

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