‘The X-Files’: William B. Davis on the Smoking Man’s Surprise Return

Were you surprised to see the Smoking Man appear in the recent smash hit revival of The X-Files? So was William B. Davis, the actor who has played the nemesis-in-chief for paranormal investigators Fox Mulder and Dana Scully since the show’s humble beginnings back in 1993. You can’t blame him for being shocked; after all, the Smoking Man appeared to turn into a pile of ash in the 2002 series finale. “I looked pretty dead at the end of the last series,” Davis jokes in this clip from a behind-the-scenes documentary included on the Blu-ray release of the six-episode limited series, available June 14. “It turns out that I have survived that incredible attack. Obviously I must have had some help.”

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If you watched the series, you know that the Smoking Man’s “helpers” likely belong to the shadowy organization of powerful men that’s been appropriating alien technology to further their own planet-depopulating agenda. The cabal finally springs their master plan in the season finale, setting up a cliffhanger that the next round of episodes will leap off from. And Davis expects to be surprised where the story goes next. “There was something quite unique about what was happening in the ‘90s and this show. How this story fits to the current zeitgeist is going to be fascinating to see.”

The X-Files: The Event Series will be available on Blu-ray on June 14