Known for his role as the Smoking Man, Vancouver actor William B. Davis hopes rumours of an X-Files reboot have some credence.

Fox TV executives recently said they have been in talks with series creator Chris Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson about a possible revival of the show, which was filmed in Vancouver.

"I think it would be successful if it did," Davis told CBC Radio's The Early Edition.

Davis said he hasn't heard anything from Carter, or from Fox executives.

William B. Davis says he hopes the X-Files returns to TV "as a fan." As an actor, he hopes the show is set in a time when his character The Smoking Man is still alive. (Charlie Cho/CBC)

"Your guess is as good as mine," he said.

There have long been rumours of a third X-Files movie, but Davis was surprised to hear it might return as a television show.

"This rumour is different — and it's more serious — that they would actually reboot the television series."

Davis expects if the show did return it would probably be a mini-series of 10 or 12 episodes.

The X-Files, which starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, helped make Canada a favourite destination for sci-fi series. ((Reuters))

"I don't think Gillian and David would sign on to do 22 episodes a year again — that would surprise me, it drove them crazy before."

Davis said if the TV series does get revived, he hopes it doesn't start where the original series left off — and instead goes back to an earlier time.

"The question really for me is — if they reboot the television series, what does that mean dramatically? Do they take the story as far as it went and continue from there, which I hope not, because I am dead."

Davis said the tension in Mulder and Scully's relationship — the series ended with them in a romantic relationship — and the presence of villains like himself was key to the original series.

Davis said the success of the show turned him into a full time actor "of some repute."

He said it also cemented Vancouver as a place to shoot film and television shows.

"To have a show that was that big, that popular, that employed that many people ... definitely put Vancouver on the map as a production place."

To hear the full interview with William B. Davis, click the audio labelled: The X-Files TV show reboot?