It’s been more than two decades since “The X-Files” debuted on Fox, but series star Gillian Anderson says in one deeply unfortunate way, it feels like no time has passed.
The actress recently revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that her initial salary offer for the upcoming revival, which premieres Sunday, was half of co-star David Duchovny’s.
“Especially in this climate of women talking about the reality of [unequal pay] in this business, I think it’s important that it gets heard and voiced,” Anderson says, expounding on the matter in a conversation with The Daily Beast. “It was shocking to me, given all the work that I had done in the past to get us to be paid fairly. I worked really hard toward that and finally got somewhere with it.”
When the Fox series debuted in 1993, Duchovny had more on-camera experience than relative newbie Anderson and was paid more. But the part of Scully, which Anderson says likely was originally envisioned as Mulder’s “sidekick,” quickly became a co-lead — thanks in part to the actress’ chemistry with Duchovny. As such, Anderson fought for, and eventually received, equity with her co-star’s salary.
But when it came time to negotiate for the revival, she adds, she found herself back at a very frustrating square one.
“It happened again!” Anderson, who won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her work in the sci-fi drama, tells the site. (In the THR article, she noted that, “There’s no point in dealing with my side [first] because, as usual, they come to me with half of what they want to offer David.”)
Eventually, both The Daily Beast and THR note, Anderson and Duchovny took home equal pay for the revival.