There Is More Crossover Between Community and The X-Files Than You Realize

Community managed to pack in references to many other TV Shows during its run, but it has a surprising amount of crossover with The X-Files. The two shows shouldn’t have much in common — one is a sitcom while the other is a mystery of the week — yet it’s not hard to imagine how their fandoms and creative teams had a lot in common. When you take a closer look, there are actually important figures from both shows bridging the gap, and several key Easter eggs bringing them together. With the Community movie finally in the works, maybe we should keep an eye out for inexplicable phenomena. Read on for a look at all the unexpected connections between Community and The X-Files.

Community is a fourth-wall breaking, meta sitcom full of allusions to and commentary on the TV medium itself. Its creator, Dan Harmon, was in his 20s during the original run of The X-Files, so it’s no surprise that he was a fan. He talked about The X-Files many times during his podcast Harmontown, from his love for the show’s style and craftsmanship to his celebrity crush on star David Duchovny.

Still, connections between Community and The X-Files are not as obvious as some of the sitcom’s other send-ups, mostly boiling down to celebrity cameos.

[RELATED: Community Movie: Dan Harmon Reveals What WON’T Be In It]

Vince Gilligan

Community premiered in 2009, and while The X-Files was long over by then, Breaking Bad was the biggest drama on the air at the time. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan actually got his big break as a writer on The X-Files, and Gilligan was a fan of Community. Gilligan really got this connection started when he appeared in Community Season 5, Episode 9, “VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing.” He played the host of an old VCR-based board game, who chose to give up his boring job at Apple in 1993 to pursue his dream of acting.

By then, Gilligan had made his first appearance on Harmontown, apparently kicking off a friendship with Harmon. The two talked about screenwriting and the creative process, drawing attention to the similarities in the formulas of sitcoms and dramas. Gilligan has since appeared on Harmon’s newest show, Krapopolis, as well.

Joel McHale

When The X-Files was revived years later after its initial run, Joel McHale saw to it that the connections between these shows went both ways. He had played the lovable scoundrel Jeff Winger on Community, and he went on to play a right-wing TV host and conspiracy theorist named Tad O’Malley on X-Files. McHale appeared twice in Season 10 and twice in Season 11, quickly becoming a fan-favorite. As you can see below, he wasn’t the only actor to appear in both shows.

Robert Patrick

Robert Patrick appeared in the later seasons of the original run of The X-Files as John Doggett — an FBI agent who took over the X-Files when David Duchovny’s Mulder left the show. He had big shoes to fill, and while this change was divisive, fans don’t tend to hold it against Patrick. He would go on to appear on Community in Season 5, Episode 6, “Analysis of Cork-Based Networking,” where he played the head of school security whom Annie and Hickey needed to bribe.

Seth Green

Seth Green may have one of the most unique dual experiences of these shows, appearing in the second episode of The X-Files, “Deep Throat,” then later in the series finale of Community, “Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television.” In the former, Green played a teenager who was trespassing on a U.S. Military base during an anomalous event that Mulder and Scully were investigating. He ends up helping Mulder sneak onto the base himself.

Meanwhile, in the Community series finale, Green plays a parodical young tech billionaire named Scrunch who appears in Jeff’s waking nightmare. With his friends moving on from Greendale Community College, Jeff imagines a new group joining him at the study room table and is horrified to find Scrunch there.

Gillian Anderson

Finally, Gillian Anderson gives us all hope that this connection will culminate in her appearance in the upcoming Community movie. When the movie was first picking up steam, McHale accidentally tagged Anderson in a post about it on social media, rather than Community star Gillian Jacobs. Without missing a beat, Anderson replied, “I’m in,” and ever since then, fans have been speculating about what role she could play in the movie. If she gets cast all thanks to an autofill error, it will be perfectly in line with Community‘s ethos.

Community and The X-Files may not have a lot in common on the surface, but it’s interesting to consider why there’s so much crossover in their productions and in their fan bases. Both shows reward curious viewers and rigorous examination, much like the other work by Harmon and Gilligan.

Community is streaming now on Peacock, while The X-Files is streaming on Hulu.