David Duchovny Explains Why We're Only Getting 6 New Episodes of 'The X-Files'

Season 1 of David Duchovny’s new NBC drama Aquarius is now available for binging on NBC.com, the NBC app, and video-on-demand platforms. But some fans are already daydreaming about another marathon in their future: The return of The X-Files to Fox in 2016.

Related: Ken Tucker Reviews ‘Aquarius’

When Duchovny visited Yahoo TV recently, he sat down to answer a few of our readers’ Twitter questions. After a couple about his Aquarius character Sam Hodiak — a detective trying to rescue a runaway teen from cult leader, petty criminal, and wannabe rock star Charles Manson in 1967 — @margaritamj went there: “David, why only 6 episodes? #XFiles?”

“It’s a good question. We certainly were not gonna ever do 22 again, but I guess the question is, ‘Why no eight, or 10, or 12?’” he says. “It had to do with scheduling and jobs that we were all gonna go to after. It was very hard to find a window for the three of us — [creator Chris Carter, co-star Gillian Anderson] and I — to get together to do any episodes. So six was kind of a two-and-a-half/three-month commitment, and we’re all able to do that. If people like those six, I imagine we could come back and try to find another window for six, or eight, or whatever again.”

Related: ‘Aquarius’: David Duchovny on His Flattop, the Show’s 6-Year Plan

While we’ll all hold him to that, one note for reader @_Savannah96, Duchovny’s response to your question, “Will you come to Michigan for a convention or something? Oh & be my date to homecoming?” is non-binding.

Aquarius airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on NBC. Season 1’s 13 episodes are now available for binging on NBC.com, the NBC app, and video-on-demand platforms.