“I was part of an awesome show.”
Gillian Anderson is famous for her role in The X-Files, but she admits there was a time when she didn’t fully understand how popular the sci-fi show was.
When you’re working on something like that, people keep saying, ‘Oh my gosh, the show is amazing!’ And after a while, you just don’t want to hear it anymore.
she shared on the Smartless podcast, hosted by actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes.Advertisement
Then, she finally understood.
About five years after the show ended, I realized what everyone had been saying, I thought to myself, ‘Yeah, that was pretty cool. I was part of a really awesome show.’
Anderson said
The X-Files aired from 1993 to 2002 and returned for two more seasons in 2016. For most of the show, Gillian Anderson played FBI agent Dana Scully, who worked alongside David Duchovny’s character, Fox Mulder, to investigate mysterious cases. The series won 15 Emmys during its run.
Anderson explained that she needed a break after being in the role for so long.
Everything melts together when you’re on a show for many years. You feel like you’re living and breathing the show, the crew, and the whole experience, by the time we finished after nine years, I was ready for it to end.
she said
Anderson shared that she had “compartmentalized” the show for a while.
I really wanted to leave the series and focus on the career I had imagined before taking the role, I had pictured myself acting in Merchant Ivory films and other things like that. So, on one hand, I wanted to forget The X-Files and move on to the projects I truly wanted to do.
she said
Anderson has said that she is thankful for what The X-Files did for her career, even though it surprised her.
I was very inexperienced and young when it started, just trying to find my way. I showed up, remembered my lines, and got swept up in the excitement of this popular show. It was my first real job, and it felt like being shot out of a cannon.
she told Variety in January 2018
Besides playing Scully, Anderson has taken on several other roles. In 2020, she portrayed former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on The Crown. She played Eleanor Roosevelt, the former first lady, in the 2022 Showtime series The First Lady. Anderson also starred as sex therapist Jean Milburn in Netflix’s Sex Education from 2019 to 2023.
Source: EW