The Original Plan for Scully on The X-Files Would Have Totally Changed the Series

What a different show The X-Files would have been with this blonde bombshell playing Scully.

June 11, 2025, 2:53pm

Certain films and TV shows feature characters so integral to the property that it’s nearly impossible to imagine a world where any other actor could have played a particular role. The X-Files is a great example of that. The Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (David Duchovny) characters are a part of the pop culture pantheon. Their faces have adorned T-shirts, bumper stickers, action figures, and more. But imagine a world where Gillian never got the offer to play Scully. Imagine a world where a different actress with the same last name was tapped to play the part instead. Believe it or not, that almost happened.

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That’s right, early in the casting process, Fox had different ideas in mind and wanted someone more voluptuous to play the Scully character – and it’s probably the person you’d least expect for the role.

Pamela Anderson Almost Played Scully on The X-Files

Gillian Anderson in “The X-Files” / 2oth Century TV

As we mentioned, Fox originally wanted a different actress to play Scully, and that actress is none other than Pamela Anderson. No, we are not reporting on a debunked rumor or a fabrication that mistakenly made it into the pop culture archives. Multiple people involved with the series have backed this claim up. In fact, series creator Chris Carter recently recalled the casting process for an interview with Inverse.

“Where’s the sex appeal?” Carter remembers the suits at Fox asking when he tried to cast Gillian in the lead role. “Even though Gillian’s beautiful, she wasn’t their idea of sexy. First, because they didn’t understand what I was trying to do with the show. And she was an unknown, so that never helps.”

Carter’s recollections make a lot of sense. Casting a familiar face is almost always considered a safer bet for the risk-averse. And network executives are notoriously leery of risk. Carter isn’t the only one with vivid recollections of the casting process. Gillian has also confirmed that Pamela was in contention for the role at one point. The actress revealed as much in a 2008 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald.

“Pamela was somebody who was more familiar to them in terms of what was on TV at the time,” Gillian revealed to the outlet.

“They were looking for someone bustier, taller, leggier than me,” the actor continued. “They couldn’t fathom how David and me could equal success. At the beginning, nobody trusted that I could do anything. I had no body of work behind me at all, and, certainly Fox felt very strongly that I wasn’t the right person for the job.”

Well, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. Perhaps casting The X-Files has taught some of the Fox executives that name recognition and sex appeal should almost never be the sole deciding factors when casting a project.

Pamela Anderson in “Barb Wire” (1996) / Gramercy Pictures

Although Pamela Anderson is a far better actor than she often seems to get credit for being, Scully isn’t written as a bombshell. So, to cast a series lead who would have to go out of her way to downplay her physical features so as not to distract from the narrative would have almost certainly been a disastrous mistake. Fortunately, the network executives eventually saw what Carter saw, and Gillian ultimately stepped into the role we know and love.

As fans surely remember, The X-Files follows FBI Agents Scully and Mulder. The pair works in a division of the Bureau that looks into cases with supernatural or otherworldly implications. The pair has investigated everything from an evil homeowners association to a sewer monster. The program’s initial broadcast ran for 9 seasons, with a 10th season released in 2016 and an 11th series installment hitting the airwaves in 2018.