The X-Files is a Peabody, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning American cult science fiction television series, created by Chris Carter, which first aired in 1993 and ended in 2002. The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans (e.g., "The Truth Is Out There", "Trust No One", "I Want to Believe") became pop culture touchstones in the 1990s. Seen as a defining series of its era, The X-Files tapped into public mistrust of governments and large institutions, and embraced conspiracy theories and spirituality, as it centered on efforts to uncover the existence of extraterrestrial life. The series has also spawned two theatrical movies (The X-Files and I Want To Believe), and a spin-off series (The Lone Gunmen).
In the series, FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are the investigators of X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder is a "believer" in the existence of aliens and the paranormal, while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned by powerful forces to debunk and control Mulder's unorthodox work. In fact, early in the series both agents turn into pawns in a larger.