seek niche and pursue it

The "will they, won't they" wasn't just fan baiting: there was legitimate concern drawn from previous shows and various tropes at the time.

August 1994:

Clearly, the primary emphasis in The X-files is plot. In a press conference on January 14, 1994, series creator Chris Carter said, "The show is very plot driven...It's what i fought for from the beginning, which is, I didn't want this to be another Moonlighting. I didn't want...the relationship (between Mulder and Scully) to come before the cases." Ironically, Carter writes the episodes that probably develop and progress the agents` relationship further than the episodes written by the other writers.

January 26, 1997:

"There is a huge amount of sexual tension between Mulder and Scully", she says, "but it's never consummated. I think what's sexy is the respect they have for each other." Gillian doesn't think the pair will end up in bed because, as was proved when the Moonlighting duo became lovers, it would ruin the show. If it does happen, she hopes it will be saved for the final episode. "If it's the end, we're allowed to," she says.

April 19, 2024:

Glen Morgan: Whenever we go back to being at the FOX commissary - or wherever it was that we were thinking about this stuff - we had two rules: if Scully ever saw an alien, or they ever kissed, the show was over. That’s what we thought.

DAVID'S AND GILLIAN'S THOUGHTS

Another interesting perspective: both DD and GA signed onto a five-year contract believing The X-Files wouldn't take off; and if it did, not for very long.

Alas, the irony.

May 16, 1996:

Q: Did you think “The X-Files” would make it?

DD: I didn’t think so. A show about extraterrestrials — no matter how well-made — how many can you do? I didn’t see the show opening up to be about anything that’s unexplained, which is limitless.

July 13, 1996:

Anderson: "I thought the theatre was the thing, and still do. At first I said no to TV - 'I am an actress'. I was very snobby in that area, but five years ago TV was conceived in a different way. It was taboo for theatre actors to do a series in case you became stereotyped. And the work wasn't necessarily high quality. [...] None of us expected it to be so popular. It was, 'OK, we're doing TV. I hope it lasts a year and then stops so we can move on.' It didn't."

May 2002:

MORGAN Nobody [at Fox] thought The X-Files would last, that it would do 13 episodes and get canceled. They really thought [The Adventures of] Brisco County, Jr. was going to be the big hit.

February 3, 2018:

In other words, she found herself sucked into television when she auditioned for a sci-fi pilot. Would she have signed if she knew how long the role would last? “Ummm,” she says, and pauses so long that I think she is never going to answer. “It’s tricky,” she continues eventually. “When I signed up, all I knew was that I could pay the rent. There’s part of me that would say, ‘Of course, it’s an extraordinary character and I’m extraordinarily lucky.’ ” But there were times when she felt as though she had signed away the best part of her life. “We shot 24 episodes over nine and a half months every year, over and over and over and over again. Shooting [each episode] of that kind of series in eight days is insanity…”

Regardless, both were briefed and on board with Chris Carter's vision.

I want to preface these quotes by suggesting one thing. Yes, there was worry motivating Carter's decision; yet it seems more likely (especially in light of his and Duchovny's and Anderson's comments from 2000 onward) that MSR's limbo was to create and keep the unresolved sexual tension unalterably in tact (as explored here, here, and here.) My suggestion: this decision was not unwelcome (when well written) by his actors.

November 1994:

Walter via e-mail asks if Mulder and Scully should be romantically involved.

GA: "A lot of people have commented on that, but the show's not really about that. It's about the cases we are investigating and our professional relationship and it's occurred to the writers that if it was to go into any other direction it would distract from the main theme of the show. If we establish a romantic relationship, it would kind of go downhill."

1995:

Though X-philes love to speculate about it, Mulder won't be bedding down with his partner, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), according to Duchovny. "The characters' bond is just as good as sleeping together. If we progress into a [sexual] relationship, that becomes the focus of the show," he says. "And then it becomes like any other show which focuses on a boring relationship between two white people."

1995:

The producers of the show are constantly receiving letters asking if romance is likely between the stars, but the relationship is likely to remain platonic. “The show’s not about that,” Gillian says.

“We (Scully and Mulder) have a good rapport, a definite admiration for each other. We’re attracted, but we’re so dedicated to the work that it always comes first.”

March 1995:

PG: So far Scully and Mulder's relationship has been strictly platonic. Does the show work better that way?

DD: Yes, just because it's so easy to jump into bed. Who needs to see that? That happens on every show. What's so hard about having sex? It's the same thing as nudity...big deal. It's better to have two people who are actually interested in each other beyond that. The easiest thing in the world is to be attracted to somebody. It's harder to actually live with them and work with them. And that's a fact, Jack.

PG: Can you see Mulder and Scully get involved romantically?

DD: To me, that would be like the final show, when the show is going off the air and everybody was giving up, and they decided to let Mulder and Scully have sex with one another.

PG: But they do sometimes glance at each other in a kind of sexual way.

DD: Yeah, I think that's more realistic.

January 1997:

FHM: David Duchovny has said he would like to see The X-Files end with Mulder getting laid…

Gillian Anderson: By Scully, hopefully.

FHM: …and then dying.

GA: I’d like it to end with us in bed together and having lost nine minutes of time, like in the pilot episode when there’s time lost because of a UFO, and then wake up and not quite know what’s taken place in those nine minutes that we’ve lost.

FHM: Surely you can’t finally consummate your famously non-shagging relationship?

GA: Yes we can. If it’s the end, we can.

October 1997: One thing you probably won’t see is Mulder and Scully kissing. (Though all bets are off on the movie.) The sexual tension will likely remain sensed but unplayed.

“And that is enough,” Gillian Anderson says. “The touch of our hands on ‘The X-Files’ is more arousing than a kiss on another show.”

Duchovny attributes whatever sexual tension exists in the show to Mulder’s and Scully’s mutual respect.

“I think it’s sexy when you see a man and a woman caring about what the other one thinks.”

November 22, 1998:

ET: Romance? Any more romance between Scully and Mulder?

David: I don't think so. The formula seems to work.

June 18, 1998:

Charlie Rose: Does the audience for the television series and the upcoming-- do they want these two people to get together? Do they want 'em in bed?

David Duchovny: They do, and they don't. You know? There-- they really want them to be in love, I think, and they want a natural expression of that or a continuation of that, for them to be physical with one another. But I think there's also this great sense in which people realize that once you have a physical intimacy you can't go backwards.

Charlie Rose: Yeah.

David Duchovny: And does it-- I think they love the friendship and the tension so much--

Charlie Rose: I think the word ''tension'' I was thinking about.

David Duchovny: Yeah.

July 10, 1998:

WILL MULDER AND SCULLY EVER KISS? “I think so,” says Duchovny, who almost smooches with his costar in the movie. “If you tease the audience too long they get frustrated.” Good luck convincing Anderson. “It’s not appropriate,” she says. “The series isn’t about our relationship. If it happens, we should wait until the very last episode.”

August 21, 1998:

He said: "Romance wouldn't kill The X Files, but it would change it. I don't think our writers are particularly interested in writing relationship stuff. If they wanted that, they'd be working on Ally McBeal.

"If I had a choice, I'd say don't have Mulder and Scully together because it takes the focus away from the quest. There are so many shows about a man and a woman. Ours is the only one about a guy trying to find aliens. That's the show's strength, so let's stay with that."

October 12, 1998:

TS: Nothing more than simple chemistry?

DD: No sex between Mulder and Scully! Only deep friendship. People thinking there's more than that between us amuses me. With Gillian, we've created the illusion of romance.

GA: Even if we never kiss on-screen, the audience feels, through a look or a certain sensuality in the dialogue that there's a romantic link between us. We let imagination do the rest.

DD: Plus, I'm not sure a sexual relationship would add anything to our characters or to the quality of the series.

TS: But you still call each other by your last names instead of your first names, in both the film and the series...

GA: Our characters have to keep a certain distance between them. Calling each other Mulder and Scully just accentuates the seriousness of their professional relationship. But we do, from time to time, in more intimate or dramatic situations, call each other Fox and Dana to show that we have real affection for each other.

November 1998:

The direction of Mulder and Scully’s relationship is a topic of hot debate. “From day one we’ve been talking about the fact that it just wouldn’t work in the series,” remarks Anderson, “but I’m curious as to how, after the movie and the extra zing that’s in the film and whether it should or shouldn’t influence how we are with each other in the series. If it does, how will it influence the work that we do? I don’t know.”

Duchovny is equally unsure of what’s right for the show. “It’s hard to say what would ruin the show, or what would make it good, without actually doing it. But [a relationship] could be interesting. If we had someone come in who wrote beautifully in that direction I’m sure it would work, but I don’t see that happening.”

December 1998:

Gilligan: “I had a good time writing that ["Small Potatoes"] scene at the end where Scully almost kisses Mulder. Of course, it’s not really Mulder, it’s Eddie Van Blundht. Both David and Gillian really enjoyed doing the episode, because it was a change of pace for them, and they have fun doing comedy. But as I recall, Gillian was a little reluctant about the kiss, because she was fearful for the franchise. In other words, she worried that we were taking the show too far.

February 10, 1999:

But as for Mulder and Scully getting romantically closer, or, as was the case with the movie, even kissing - albeit in friendship - well, don't hold your breath. "You have them get together would take out all that sexual tension," Anderson says. "It just wouldn't be the same."

January 28, 2000:

DD: I think everything is up in the air because of the movie-franchise aspect. If we truly knew that it was ending this year, next year or whenever, you could actually write toward an ending. I think you could actually disrupt the nature of Mulder and Scully’s relationship and make it sexual–make it something–and actually deal with it, in that case.

July 26, 2000:

At least, this season, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully got to share a kiss, albeit a chaste "happy new year" brushing of the lips. But many X-Files fans want more. Duchovny, however, remains unconvinced. "I'm really not sure," he says. "Mulder and Scully share a deep bond, but I'm not sure about romance."

"The interesting thing about everybody's interest in the relationship between Mulder and Scully is that they want some kind of resolution to it. But when you look at the show, each week something happens to Mulder and/or Scully that is completely life-changing, yet we come back the next week a if nothing had happened."

"It's unnatural, I know, but in a weekly series you can not have things change the way they would in real life. You can not have the kind of resolution you want in real life. I thing it's best if Mulder and Scully just keep teasing the viewers the way they do.

The Official Guide to The X Files (Vol. 6), 2001:

"David and I knew the kiss was coming," relates Anderson. "I felt the editors of that episode milked it in a very effective way. When we were shooting the scene, the director slowed everything down and changed the camera angles. That scene was made to last a lot longer than it actually was."

April 10, 2005:

JL: You and she walked a tightrope for years before you finally fell off it. (DD laughs) You've described it as a chaste love affair and compared it to Cary Grant movies in which verbal sparring was a code for sexual sparring.

DD: The intelligence of Chris Carter in keeping it a chaste love affair was you constantly wanted to come back, since it was never consummated, the pressure was never let out of our balloon. You know, we were constantly ... you know, the smallest touch was rife. And that was fun.

THE NUANCE

David and Gillian knew the show's trajectory from day one (and discussed it here, here, here, and here); however, that doesn't mean they weren't creatively tempted to explore more on screen.

<-90s->

DD often chafed against the limits of the show (continually contributing ideas and criticisms behind the scenes, post here and here), and GA often thrilled at the thought of introducing a little jealousy into the MSR dynamic (post here.)

August 1994:

MILLER: The current level of subdued mutual interest is a neat tension, and if that can be maintained, it certainly has some benefits.

GILLIAN: Yeah. I love it. There’s actually an episode coming up (Tooms) where we have a scene in a car together that gets a little-not steamy, in that we don’t make any physical contact-it gets pretty tense between us. There’s some teasing words passed between us. I hope- I haven’t seen the dailies, but i hope the scene turns out as well as it felt when we were shooting it.

1996, Brian Lowry:

Never one to settle for success, Duchovny-- who continues to play an active role in the series's creative direction, working in concert with Carter and co-executive producer Howard Gordon on certain episodes-- is pleased with the third season but looks forward to expanding the shows emotional range even further. Referring to one of the early second-season episodes, he notes, "I think when we did 'Duane Barry' the show became a really great show, and we maintained that level for a while, but we haven't gone beyond it. I'm waiting to go beyond it. We don't go beyond it technically, but we will go beyond it in terms of character, introducing a personal life of some kind. I think it's inevitable. You have to do it."

When it's pointed out that the show's most fervent loyalists, as well as Carter himself, have been especially vocal about not wanting to see Mulder and Scully romantically involved with anyone but each other, Duchovny simply shrugs and says the nuances he refers to don't necessarily have to involve romance. "Give Mulder a friend. Give him a squash partner," he suggests. "It's got to happen. I really don't care what anybody thinks we should or shouldn't do." [...]

"I think it would be an interesting challenge as an actor to see how they react in certain situations-- how they act on a personal level [...] maybe have her go on a date, or someone she's attracted to just so see how it affects her relationship with Mulder," Anderson concurs, while adding that she understands the show's parameters dictate that they "not take it to any great detail, or take it any further. Just that sideline would be interesting. It can't just be about extracurricular relationships," she continues. "The show's not about that. That would ruin it."

August 1997: Much has been made of the sexual tension that exists between the show’s lead characters, and the question of whether they’ll ever get it together. Duchovny has even been misrepresented as wanting a girlfriend in the series, which in some fans eyes would ideally be Scully. “I kind of bridle at that”, he explains, “because I think of myself as Frankenstein asking for a bride, you know, like, 'girlfriend, good. Please give Mulder a girlfriend!’ It’s not really that, it’s more like sometimes I want Mulder to have a life outside of the investigation part and outside of the quest for his sister. I know that is the main spine of the character, that is what drives him, but I’d also like to take him into other areas, and the obvious way would be to either be with Scully romantically, or another woman. I’d like to see something like that, just because as an actor that’s interesting to play”.

November 1998:

The direction of Mulder and Scully’s relationship is a topic of hot debate. “From day one we’ve been talking about the fact that it just wouldn’t work in the series,” remarks Anderson, “but I’m curious as to how, after the movie and the extra zing that’s in the film and whether it should or shouldn’t influence how we are with each other in the series. If it does, how will it influence the work that we do? I don’t know.”

Duchovny is equally unsure of what’s right for the show. “It’s hard to say what would ruin the show, or what would make it good, without actually doing it. But [a relationship] could be interesting. If we had someone come in who wrote beautifully in that direction I’m sure it would work, but I don’t see that happening.”

January 30 - February 5, 1999:

"I never felt they should consummate their relationship, but it's important to acknowledge the level of intimacy that occurred in the movie," [Anderson] says. "It's given the writers another path to go down with the show - how to keep us working together without becoming completely involved with each other. They've come up with some very creative episodes that will make everybody happy."

February 1999:

REDBOOK: In the X-Files movie Scully and Mulder almost locked lips, then on the show they did, if only briefly. Does that mean that they're finally going to have a real relationship?

GILLIAN: From day one we've been talking about the fact that a romance between them just wouldn't work. I don't know if almost kissing in the movie will change that.

February 5, 1999:

Carter has no problem with the ripening sexual tension, but he wants the relationship to remain platonic. ”From an actor’s standpoint, it’s too bad,” says Duchovny. ”I would like to complicate the situation rather than maintain it in this limbo we’re told people like. We’ve been able to go places with the relationship over the years, but we don’t build on it. But that’s the nature of the show — there’s never any accumulation of experience.”

As an added complication, their investment in Mulder and Scully's "perhaps more" waned with each repetitive question asked year after year after year.

July 1995:

Not that - to the disappointment of many - she thinks anything romantic will ever happen between the two leads.

"Everybody and their dog asks me that," she laughs. "But I don't think it's going to happen. [T]he show's not about that, and what we have going right now seems to be working, and to alter that might destroy it."

February 20, 1997:

Q: I hear you're tired of always being asked the same questions.

GILLIAN: I don't know what question would be more fun to answer. But for the longest time, everybody has asked, "Do you believe in UFOs?'" "Are Mulder and Scully going to get together?" I've heard my same response to all those questions so many times I just can't do it anymore.

October 15, 1997:

Q: PLEASE tell us the one question that you always get tired of hearing as well as having to answer it. -- Melody

DD: There are a few of them -- can I give you a few? "Is it true that the show is moving from Vancouver to Los Angeles?" "Do you believe in aliens?" And, "Are Mulder and Scully going to get together?"

July 27, 1999:

Then the inevitable "relationship question:" romance between Scully and Mulder.DD: "A certain percentage of our fan base is obsessed with our relationship or lack thereof. "Sometimes there's a romantic hint in the script. Other times there isn't. That happens over a six-year period when you're writing about two characters who work so closely. "But you know, I couldn't tell you how uninterested I am in all that. I don't mean to be rude when I say that. It's just not interesting to me in any way, shape or form."

<-2000s->

There was a spark of enthusiasm (and disappointment) kindled towards the latter end of the show--

2002, Kessenich:

The two stars were also reportedly unhappy the relationship between Mulder and Scully was not explored more fully since Duchovny planned to leave the series at the end of the season.

--which was revived, with gusto, while filming the next movie--

May 4, 2008:

THE CAST and crew of the upcoming “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” were just a few weeks into filming in Vancouver when Frank Spotnitz, the co-writer and co-producer with creator-director Chris Carter, called star David Duchovny over to a laptop computer to watch a fan-made video on YouTube. It was a montage of scenes from the old “X-Files” show set to Sarah McLachlan’s forlorn “When She Loved Me.”

“It was intensely romantic and it almost brought tears to my eyes,” Duchovny recalled. “It really did. And it reminded me that we have at the core of ‘The X-Files’ this very powerful relationship. We have to honor that and not shy away from the sentimentality of the fans or of the relationship itself. When we were doing the show, Gillian [Anderson] and I had got tired of it. And we wanted to be ourselves outside of it. I remember struggling. But now I think, ‘God, what a great love affair.’”

August 2008:

Anderson: You know, it all kind of gets jumbled up in my mind, but just recently, during this shoot, someone pulled David and I aside to this computer and showed us some clips, on YouTube, that fans had put together of us in various scenes. And there was an amazing amount of care and intimacy that I'd forgotten about. I mean, people always say we never kiss on the show - we kissed, like, thousands of times! There are kisses all over the place. There was a level of real intimacy between these two characters, the kind of care that you don't see very much in the real world. I missed that - and when we saw it again that day, we were totally mesmerised by it.

But as in the 90s (and so, too, in the 2010s), neither strongly objected to MSR's trademark distance.

July 21? (published 22nd early A.M.), 2008:

There have been rumors that Mulder and Scully have some passionate physical contact this time around.

DD: “I’m not saying. But I will say it’s always been an old-fashioned romance where intimacy comes through looks, or holding hands or kisses on the forehead. Mulder and Scully are meant for each other but there’s always an obstacle that threatens their relationship and this movie is very much about that obstacle. It’s a thriller and kind of a horror movie, but while this horrifying stuff is going on you’ve got these two people sort of trying to figure out where they’re at with each other.”

<-2010s->

The Revival's regression reset the actors to their original positions, i.e. Gillian becoming more intrigued by her character's growth and strength apart from a relationship (echoes from Season 8, post here) and David remaining more keen on building forward from his character's history.

August 3, 2015:

We can tell you that they're not living together, and that Mulder has become convinced that the alien conspiracy might not be precisely what he thought it was. His obsession has taken a toll. "He's wearing bad jeans, so you can just extrapolate from my wardrobe. He's in a dark, dark place," says Duchovny, who holds out hope of a return-to-form makeover. "The classic Mulder is not this. He belongs in a suit."

[...]

Anderson is equally cryptic about the direction Carter has charted. ”I like where we find Mulder and Scully in their relationship,” she says. “I also like the area of zeitgeist that we step into. It’s on point and raises some very interesting issues. And question marks.”

December 9, 2015:

Q: what did you think when you first found out mulder & scully were broken up in season 10?

GA: I thought “good call, Chris”

January 13, 2016:

Anderson admitted she heard rumblings of the displeasure of the relationship status change. "Even though I knew that they were devoted and passionate, I still get shocked by it sometimes," she said of the fanbase. But the new dynamic was almost necessary for the show to work again.

"Part of what is enticing about the duo is the fact that they are against each other [Laughs.] at the same time they are for each other," she said. "It's just too domestic a scenario to have it being that they live in the same house, and they go home every night to the same house while they're doing The X-Files during the day. It leaves a much more intriguing and interesting dynamic to have us still maybe be in love and have that spark going, that question mark."

While they may be broken up now, all hope should not be lost.

"I think at the end, I think at the very end they absolutely belong together, but it's a long road," Anderson said.

January 23, 2016:

Anderson: I think it’s already been discussed, already been printed that we’re not living together.

Duchovny: We’re separated.

Q: The fans won’t like that.

Duchovny: You know you can’t keep us apart for that long.

December 20, 2017:

Though the two remain apart, fans can take heart: Their romance is actively discussed. “So much of their relationship is unspoken,” Duchovny says. “What’s so vital and strong about the show is the partnership between the two of them, beyond the labels. Whether they’re physically together or not, they are always together in some sense.”

(More quotes: DD and GA on Mulder/Scully's "Marriage" and Breakup)

And this isn't to say DD was overly invested in the characters' relationship and GA not at all, or vice versa: Gillian preferred to keep matters strictly separate; David advocated new possibilities to enrich the material. Simply put, neither was particularly eager to rush into romance if other challenging, thought-provoking scripts kept their attention. And when Mulder and Scully did cross that line, they willingly explored the partnership together... and apart, together and apart, and on and on.

In short, their concerns aligned rather well with Chris Carter's, forming the backbone of the steamy yet restrained dynamic which captivates audiences to this day.

CONCLUSION

Extra material if you're so inclined: DD and GA Didn't Think Mulder or Scully Were Very Sexual DD: Mulder and Possible Relationships (a Follow-Up)

Thanks for reading~