10 Things We Want To See On The X-Files: Albuquerque

An infamous headline on geek news site Slashdot spoiled the death of The Lone Gunmen in Season 9, until they returned in comic book form, only to be dead again in the revival.

The death of the beloved Lone Gunmen was one of the most contentious plot points in the original run of The X-Files. When the show ended following its ninth season in 2002, it seemed that Melvin Frohike, Richard "Ringo" Langley, and John Fitzgerald Byers were gone for good.

Then came Season 10 — in comic book form. The comics resurrected Mulder's geeky pals, retconning the events of their final episode (alive, anyway), "Jump the Shark" to show that they had faked their own deaths. This was big news, mainly because the comics were said to be canon by none other than series creator Chris Carter himself. The trio also appeared in Audiobook form, voiced by the original cast, in an Audible exclusive, X-Files: Cold Cases.

One problem: when the revival seasons came along, the Gunmen were dead again. Instead of borrowing from the comic book storyline, the show opted to show them as hallucinations experienced by Mulder, and in the case of Langley, as a digitized version of himself, trying to cheat death in a virtual world. Oh, and the comics weren't canon anymore. Yeesh.

Want a comedic X-Files animated spin-off that works? Make darn sure the Gunmen are alive.And heavily involved.