Back in Black?

♦ With the ratings success of The X-Files,  could a revival of another of Chris Carter’s creations, Millennium, be on the cards?

The X-Files premiered its first two revival episodes back-to-back with resounding audience reaction.

My Struggle, the season premiere followed a highly rated NFL game and managed to retain more than a third of the game’s key demo audience, pulling in more than 16 million viewers. The James Wong penned second episode, Founder’s Mutation, pulled in 9.7 million total viewers for a ratings share of 3.2, with no lead in from the NFL, beating The Bachelor, Scorpion, Supergirl and everything else airing that Monday.

With those figures it was inevitable that talk would turn to creator Chris Carter’s other properties.

In a phone conference interview with Chris Carter, and numerous reportersit was asked if the executives at Fox hinted about developing any of Chris Carter’s other properties such as the cult classic Millennium.

“Right now we’re so focused on [The X-Files] that there are no talks about doing anything else,” Carter said.  “I can tell you, there is a constant drumbeat to bring back Millennium and I’m just always so taken by that, also that hardcore group of fans out there who would like to see it back.”

“I have ideas how [“Millennium”] might come back but, it’s really, once again, it’s a Fox show,” X-Files creator Chris Carter told members of the press on a conference call promoting Fox’s new X-Files miniseries. “They own it. It’s really up to them whether or not they would ever want to go down that road.”

In a 2014 Reddit AMA, Carter was asked if he could see Frank Black and Millennium on television today.

“I don’t know where I see him today, but I think that it would be great to revive him and that character so many years later,” he said. “If for the 20th Anniversary of Millennium, I think it would be amazing if we brought Lance back as Frank Black as a man still basically on the job.”

Millennium, a Carter-created series that ran on Fox from 1996 to 1999, starred Lance Henriksen as Frank Black. Like tortured Hannibal Lecter adversary Will Graham, Black was an FBI vet with a knack for absorbing the thought processes of murderers. Also like Graham, Black’s family was targeted for murder. Will high ratings for X-Files tempt Fox to get back in Black? Carter said he had not yet discussed a revival of “Millennium” with Fox execs.

On the X-Files conference call ahead of the premiere, Carter named other series that could be revived. “I also think Harsh Realm would deserve another chance. I’m not sure if The Lone Gunmen would ever see the light of day, but Unique would be a show I would love to see done, if not at Fox, someplace else.”

Harsh Realm was a series about virtual reality produced for Fox that was short-lived, but ahead of its time. Unique was a mystery police thriller about a woman seeking revenge for her husband, who finds herself drawn into a global conspiracy. The Lone Gunmen was an X-Files spinoff that lasted one season on Fox.

Carter also worked on a contemporary retelling of Dante’s Inferno as a pilot for Amazon called The After. Citing creative difference and lack of audience interest, the project did not move forward.

If the ratings for the remaining X-Files remain high we may see some of Carter’s other projects

Millennium – Season 1-3 [DVD] [1996]