The X-Files: Season 7

The seventh season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 1999, concluded on May 21, 2000, and consists of twenty-two episodes. The season would be the last to feature co-star David Duchovny in full-time capacity. He would return in later seasons as an intermittent main character.

Season seven takes place after the destruction of the Syndicate, which marked the end of their long-running story arc. This season marks the end of various other story lines, most notably the revelation of Samantha Mulder’s fate to her brother, Fox Mulder. In addition, because sister show Millennium was cancelled in 1999 without concluding any of the shows extended plot lines, Chris Carter felt he needed to bring closure for his cancelled show. As a result, the episode “Millennium” was written and produced.

The seventh season premiere “The Sixth Extinction”, debuted with a Nielsen rating of 10.6 and was viewed by 17.82 million viewers, marking a noticeable drop in viewership since the sixth season. The series fell from number 12 to number 29 for the 1999–2000 television year. In addition, the show’s seventh season received mixed to positive reviews from critics; many felt that the show still produced good episodes, but that it was the weakest of the Duchovny and Anderson seasons of the show. Before the broadcasting for the season began, David Duchovny sued Fox and announced his decision to leave the show. The season would be the last to feature the original opening sequence for the series, as the two later years changed the opening sequence in an attempt to renew and revive the series.