THE X-FILES Creator Chris Carter Said The Studio Initially Wanted a "Bombshell like Pamela Anderson to play Scully"
The creator of The X-Files, Chris Carter, recently opened up about his initial pitch for the sci-fi series and recalled how the studio executives reacted to the type of actress they wanted to see in the role of Agent Scully.
According to Carter, Fox executives weren’t happy with Gillian Anderson being cast as Scully because they wanted “a bombshell like Pamela Anderson to play Scully.” Carter remembered studio executives asked him, “Where’s the sex appeal?”
He went on to say during an interview with Inverse: “Even though Gillian’s beautiful, she wasn’t their idea of sexy. First, because they didn’t understand what I was trying to do with the show. And she was an unknown, so that never helps.”
Good grief. Luckily Carter ended up winning the battle to get the right Anderson cast in the series because the show would not have worked without her! She was a perfect casting choice for Scully, and it’s hard to imagine a Pamela Anderson-type actress in the role.
Carter also talked about the new X-Files project currently being developed by Ryan Coogler, saying he has no reservations about letting someone else put their stamp on his beloved franchise.
He said: “It’s interesting, people say, ‘Aren’t you possessive of it?’ And I say, ‘No, I’m looking forward to seeing what somebody else does with it.’” Carter also shared that he had a “really nice conversation” with Coogler when the reboot idea was pitched to Fox.
Carter explained: “I just asked him what his ideas were, and he told me, and I said, ‘Those sound like good ideas.’ No matter what, he’s got a hard job. Casting is a hard job. Mounting it is a hard job. All the problems that I dealt with are going to be his problems.”
As for Carter possibly continuing the adventures of Agents Mulder and Scully, he previously said: "Oh, if David and Gillian wanted to do it again. Yeah, probably, then I would be inspired."
While Duchovny has said he’s always up for more X-Files, Anderson has said several times that she’s done with it. But, she did say she would be open to returning under the right circumstances.
Anderson said at the time: “It just feels like such an old idea. I’ve done it, I did it for so many years, and it also ended on such an unfortunate note,’ referring to Scully’s pregnancy reveal. ‘In order to even begin to have that conversation [about another season] there would need to be a whole new set of writers and the baton would need to be handed on for it to feel like it was new and progressive. So yeah, it’s very much in the past.”
I’m just excited and curious about the future of the franchise. It will be interesting to see what Coogler comes up with. But, I think it’s a long shot to see Carter return to do more with the original stars.