'X-Files' 2016 Spoilers: What Happened In The 2002 Series Finale? Recap Before The Miniseries Premiere

For the first time in more than 13 years, “The X-Files” will be returning to Fox Sunday. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) will find themselves going back to the FBI, where the X-Files unit will be reopened. Before you get to see the new cases, refresh your memory of “The X-Files” television series and how its mythology originally came to a conclusion in 2002 (excluding the 2008 film, “The X-Files: I Want to Believe”).

After two seasons when Mulder was basically missing from the show, the fan-favorite character returned for the Season 9 and series finale. Mulder turned up at a military base where he was accessing computer files detailing an alien colonization of Earth. Mulder then got into a fight with the super soldier Knowle Rohrer (Adam Baldwin), who discovered the computer system had been hacked. Mulder wound up killing Rohrer, which led to his arrest.

When Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and Scully learned of his arrest, they were shocked by the news at first. They then attempted to find a way to get Mulder released from custody. They failed and Mulder was put on trial by FBI Deputy Director Alvin Kersh (James Pickens Jr.). All Mulder’s work on the X-Files was brought into question, in addition to what happened to Rohrer.

Mulder was supported during the trial by Scully, agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick), agent Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) and a few others, while Skinner defended him. Scully did the autopsy on Rohrer, and she revealed that the body was not his own. Despite this finding, Mulder lost at trial and was sentenced to death. Skinner and Scully took it upon themselves to try to help Mulder escape.

Kersh surprisingly came to Mulder’s aid and helped Skinner and Scully break him out. Mulder was instructed to leave the country so he could be safe, but he decided to go to the Anasazi ruins in New Mexico with Scully. There he hoped to find a “wise man” who could answer questions about the alien colonization he read about in the beginning of the episode.

When they arrived at the ruins, they were shocked to find C.G.B. Spender, aka the Smoking Man (William B. Davis), who was there hiding from a future alien colonization Dec. 22, 2012. After learning the X-Files had been closed, Doggett and Reyes went to the ruins to stop another super soldier Rohrer, who was going to New Mexico to finish off Mulder. Rohrer was killed and helicopters came in to destroy the cliffs where the Smoking Man and Mulder were believed to be.

Doggett and Reyes drove away from the scene and escaped when they switched cars with Scully and Mulder. The series came to an end with Mulder and Scully in bed with each other. Mulder believed they had the power to save themselves and remained hopeful about their future.

“The X-Files” get reopened on Fox Sunday, Jan. 24, after the NFC Championship game. Part two of the two-night premiere continues Monday at 8 p.m. EST.