Gillian: I quit X Files because it had lost its audience

AND we thought she was just hoping for a chance to come back over here, and into the studio with Jamie Dornan…

When Gillian Anderson, pictured, announced her plans to leave The X-Files back in January, she never really explained why – leaving the space open for some TV mags to speculate that she was just playing hard to get.

But her mocking tweets, this week, about the demise of the show that was once an intrinsic part of popular culture, left little doubt about what really motivated her.

When Michael Ausiello, of TV Line tweeted: ‘Fox has “no plans” for a Season 12 following Gillian Anderson exit’, the 49-year-old star of the Irish crime drama The Fall, with Doran, responded: ‘Well Michael, the truth is… after exit of 77% of viewership.’ Ouch! The truth is, when X-Files returned in 2016 for its tenth season, it averaged 13.6million viewers over six episodes, but the 11th season, which started this January, only managed to attract 3.4millions viewers.

Anderson confirmed at the start of the year that she would not be returning as Agent Scully after Season 11, saying: ‘I was a bit surprised by people’s [shocked] reaction to my announcement… because my understanding was that this was a single season.’ She said she wants to explore other roles. ‘There’s lots of things that I want to do in my life and in my career. I don’t really want to be tied down to months and months of doing any particular one thing that I feel like I’ve done,’ she said.

When asked if she’d consider returning in another ten years, she said: ‘No. No. This is it for me. I’m really serious.’