Men’s Journal (Aug. 12, 2026): And now you have your Director’s Cut [of I Want to Believe] out this week. I watched both versions of the movie to prepare to speak with you, and it seems that, with this release, you’ve made the movie a bit more accessible to non–X-Files fans. The Director’s Cut removes callbacks to Samantha, William, and even the two kisses between Scully and Mulder. Can you talk a bit about your decision to pull those bits out of the film, specifically?
Chris Carter: I always felt the movie was, the weight in the stories was kind of wrong. I set out to tell a really scary X-Files story, and when I had to cut it back for reasons beyond my control- for the executives who wanted a PG-13 movie and the MPAA made us cut it back even farther. It became a Mulder-Scully relationship story that happened to have a scary element in it. Also, what I couldn’t have foreseen is that there would be two X-Files reboots, Seasons 10 and 11, so people got their fill of Mulder and Scully. I felt, going back to this movie, I wanted to take some of that out because we had gotten a fill just recently, and I wanted to make it the scary standalone story that I intended to make.
Men’s Journal: Any message to fans upset you’ve robbed them of some MSR, Mulder-Scully Romance, moments?
Chris Carter: Frank Spotnitz told me people are gonna miss that last kiss. But are they?