William was born in spring 2001 and left with adoptive parents in 2002, which would make him 15 or 16 by the time a new series aired – just the right age for him to be asking questions about his origins (and to be played by a slightly older actor, thus avoiding being restricted by child labour laws). Bringing William back would not only open up a world of parental angst for Mulder and Scully, but could also develop the show’s alien conspiracy arc, especially if the aliens were to find William and restore his mysterious powers.

Talking of aliens and their plans to invade Earth, that was supposed to happen in 2012. The most effective way to deal with that particular missed opportunity would probably be to suggest that the invasion is already happening, and that, B-movie style, “They Live Among Us.” Alternatively, the aliens could have postponed their invasion until they could find William, or impregnate another FBI agent with mysterious alien miracle baby spawn.

There are plenty of other hanging threads from the original series that could be explored. The Cigarette Smoking Man has proved as difficult to kill as Rasputin over the years so, given his popularity, it would not be entirely unreasonable to reveal that he miraculously escaped death by missile in the series finale, and has decided to re-merge to drop cryptic hints against his former allies, or continue whatever shadowy evil plans he was working on all those years.

Alternatively, his son and Mulder’s half-brother Jeffrey Spender’s motivations are murky at best, and Spender seemed to know a lot about the planned alien invasion, so that character could drive the plot quite effectively. Additionally, the whereabouts of Gibson Praise, a likeable telepathic teenager who seemed generally fairly well disposed towards Mulder and Scully, were unknown at the end of the series – since Praise would now be an adult (so, again, no restrictions on the actor’s working hours, whether recast or not), and since he possessed alien DNA for unknown reasons and has a nifty superpower to boot, this would seem a profitable plot thread to follow. Have Praise or Spender been involved with the Conspiracy, or the fight against it, in the years since we last saw them? Might either one of them seek out Mulder and Scully in an attempt to recruit them to either side?

Of course, there is a possible outline for Season Ten available in the currently-canonical comic book continuation of the series. We would expect this to become non-canonical in the event of the TV series being revived, and it’s unlikely a new television version would follow it too closely, as they may prefer to surprise fans with new developments (not to mention practical behind the scenes considerations no one can predict yet, like actor availability and budgetary restrictions). However, some elements of the comic book series may be incorporated into the show. We’re particularly fond of the idea that the Lone Gunmen faked their deaths. The Lone Gunmen bring a less po-faced, livelier vibe to be-suited, grey-corridor world of The X-Files, and it would be nice to have them back.