Gillian Anderson Shocked By Unequal ‘X-Files’ Pay

Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson at The Weinstein Co. & Netflix Golden Globes after-party on January 10. The actress confirmed she was initially offered unequal pay for "The X-Files" revival. File Photo by Christine Chew/UPI

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25 (UPI) — Gillian Anderson says she was sad and shocked to be offered unequal pay for The X-Files revival.

The 47-year-old actress discussed the disparity in an interview with The Daily Beast. Anderson fought to secure equal pay during her original X-Files run, but confirmed she was initially offered half the amount of co-star David Duchovny’s salary for the revival.

“I’m surprised that more [interviewers] haven’t brought that up because it’s the truth,” the star said. “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.”

“Even in interviews in the last few years, people have said to me, ‘I can’t believe that happened, how did you feel about it, that is insane,'” she related. “And my response always was, ‘That was then, this is now. And then it happened again! … It is sad.”

The Hollywood Reporter first commented on the disparity, and later reported Anderson and Duchovny eventually took home equal pay. The pair played Dana Scully and Fox Mulder on nine seasons of The X-Files before reprising the roles for the revival.

“It actually took me longer than I thought it was going to,” Anderson told TV Insider of getting back in character. “I assumed that it was going to be a lot easier … To find Scully, it comes down to a simplistic, find Scully’s serious look that’s different than other serious looks.”

“I initially had an expectation that six [episodes] would be it [for the revival],” she added. “I had no interest in doing any more. I think I’m a little bit more open to the idea of doing more, but under certain circumstances.”

The X-Files revival premiered Sunday on Fox, and will air new episodes Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Mitch Pileggi, William B. Davis and Annabeth Gish are among the other stars who will reprise roles on the limited series.

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