Haley Joel Osment To Guest On ‘The X-Files’

Chris Carter’s The X-Files was one of the defining sci-fi shows of the ’90s, thanks to its regular exploration of aliens, government conspiracies and monsters. It seems only fitting that, with the series’ 11th season returning in January, along with it comes another defining element of genre entertainment in the ’90s, The Sixth Sense star Haley Joel Osment.

Details about his character are yet to be revealed, but Osment is slated to star in an episode that focuses on Mitch Pileggi’s “Skinner” character. Given that he’s only appearing in one episode, it’s unclear how much of an impact the character will have on the 10-episode season.

Series stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will be returning for the series, in addition to Annabeth Gish, Robbie Amell, Lauren Ambrose, Karin Konoval, Barbara Hershey and William B. Davis all appearing in the new season.

In 1999, Osment starred in The Sixth Sense as a boy who had the ability to see dead people, earning himself an Academy Award nomination. The role not only launched his career, but also that of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.

Perhaps due to not wanting to limit his possibilities, Osment didn’t take many future roles in the genre world, with the exception of playing David in Steven Spielberg’s A.I. In that film, David was a robotic child that acted as a surrogate for parents who thought they would lose their child, only for their child to recover and lead to David being tossed aside.

The actor eventually returned to the genre world with Kevin Smith’s Tusk and Yoga Hosers, while most recently being seen in a recurring role on HBO’s Silicon Valley.

The previous season of The X-Files was a limited six-episode event which followed the series’ seeming end in 2001. The event received promising enough ratings to earn itself this 11th season, despite the actual quality of the revival leaving fans somewhat underwhelmed.

Whatever the quality of this upcoming season will be, Anderson shared at New York Comic Con that this would be her character’s last outing.

Tune in to the season premiere on Wednesday, January 3 at 8:00 PM ET on Fox.

[H/T Deadline]