‘The X-Files’ Season 11 Hires 2 Female Directors

Two episodes of the upcoming Season 11 of “The X-Files” will be helmed by female directors. According to TVLine, the two episodes will be directed by Carol Banker and Holly Dale.

Banker worked as a script supervisor on “The X-Files” from 1998 to 2002. She also directed the series finale of the short-lived “The X-Files” spinoff, “The Lone Gunmen.” Outside of the “X-Files” franchise, Banker also helmed episodes of E!’s “The Arrangement,” Syfy’s “The Magicians” and The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries,” among many others.

Dale, meanwhile, has directed episodes of NBC’s “Chicago Med,” “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago P.D.” She was also the sole director of the six-episode Season 1 of the Lifetime series “Mary Kills People.”

READ: Does Robert Patrick want to return as John Doggett for “The X-Files” Season 11?

Banker and Dale’s hiring comes six weeks after it was revealed that all 10 episodes of Season 11 would be written by men. Critics swiftly called out “The X-Files” creator Chris Carter for hiring an all-male writing team. Surprisingly, series star Gillian Anderson joined the conversation and pointed out that only two out of 207 episodes of “The X-Files” were directed by women. Those women are Anderson herself and Michelle MacLaren.

After receiving a tweet from GoldDerby about starting a petition to include female directors in “The X-Files” Season 11, Anderson named four female directors she would like to see join the new season. Interestingly, one of the names she mentioned was Banker.

Plot details about Season 11 are being kept under wraps, but series star David Duchovny told IGN at last month’s San Diego Comic-Con that it will be better than Season 10. “I think the handicap of the last season with only six episodes was just that — six episodes,” the actor said.

“So much ground had to be covered even in the first two [episodes], which was reiterating or repeating or reminding people of the show and [its] issues … and the characters and their issues. It was a lot of treading water that had to be done to satisfy both old and new viewers. And by the time we did that we were already almost halfway through what we were doing.”

“I think now that we have 10 [episodes], obviously, there’s going to be a little bit of recap, a little bit of refresher — I’m assuming. … But once we handle that, then I think we’re off and running for a good nine and a half episodes,” he continued. “This is gonna be great. It will be more relaxed. I think it will be a better season.”

In addition to Duchovny and Anderson, who play Fox Mulder and Dana Scully on the series, Mitch Pileggi and Annabeth are also set to return next season.

“The X-Files” Season 11 will premiere midseason on Fox.