Fox president teases The X-Files return date: 'We hope to announce something about that shortly'

After the cliffhanger ending of The X-Files miniseries in 2016, Fox President David Madden has shared an update about the show's return date at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. He also teased a possible announcement about the show's return date.

When asked about more episodes of The X-Files, Madden said [ via E!News], "We hope so. A lot of conversations going on, these conversations are complex but we hope to be able to announce something about that shortly."

Teasing a possible return date and episode count, he said, "It won't be 22, but we are hoping for more than six. That's our goal. I think the ideal is to get it ready for [2018]'18. Whether or not it would be January..."

"We feel like there is progress being made," Madden added. Fox aired the six-episode miniseries in January 2016, with series creator Chris Carter at the helm and original stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson returning as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

Previously, Duchovny and Anderson spoke to Deadline about returning for more X-Files episodes. Anderson admitted that she has "no clue when they're going to return" and added: "For me, it was important that I thought of this season as being just these six shows when we were doing it. The long insanity of the schedule [demanded it]. I'm open to the conversation, though they haven't come to us yet. I have no clue when they're going to."

"I'm getting on with the rest of my life and I'm booking other jobs, so if it is indeed something that they would like to continue, then that conversation will need to be had. And I have no idea when that will be able to take place at this juncture," Anderson added.

When asked whether he would like to do more episodes of The X-Files, Duchovny said, "I don't know... I'm pausing, and I don't know why I'm pausing. I would say, I guess what we found with this season was that it's possible to still get it. It doesn't work."