Will There Be Any ex-X-Filers?
Chris Owens gives us a peek (or does he?) at some future plot developments
By CLAIRE BICKLEYToronto Sun
Attempting to reach X-Files actor Chris Owens, I'm connected to something called Transworld Systems.
I misdialed, I guess.
But oddly, the woman who answers the phone offers to go look for him.
"They're the ones who are recording this conversation," the Canadian actor cracks when I finally find him at the L.A. home of his publicist.
After we talk, that publicist asks nervously whether Owens gave away anything about the show's next two episodes, highly anticipated because they're expected to reveal much of its core alien conspiracy storyline. Apparently someone at Fox had called him, stern and worried.
Just the standard paranoia and second-guessing that surrounds The X-Files. Gee, who would have expected that?
In between, Owens seems to have told me a thing or 20 about Sunday night's Two Fathers and Feb. 14's One Son, particularly what's in store for his character, duplicitous Agent Spender.
Or has he?
The episodes "will leave Spender in a very precarious position," Owens admits.
"As precarious as it gets on X-Files for a main character. At first, I was quite frightened and then I thought maybe it's a status symbol. Maybe it's something each character has to go through in order to earn his badge on X-Files."
Not to be a total Bill Clinton about it -- but doesn't it depend on what 'it' is.
In this case, it's a gunshot, presumably aimed at Spender, but we won't see whether it finds its target. Remember when the series shot Spender's Dad, sinister assassin Cigarette Smoking Man? He turned up alive, well and snowshoeing in Quebec's Eastern Townships.
Also clouding the outcome is the show's recent penchant for pushing major players to the brink of death or even over the edge, then snatching them back, as it did first with Skinner, then with Scully.
"Maybe they'll actually kill me and that will be that. 'Surprise!'" Owens says.
Not that that would necessarily mean a lighter workload. Dead man working is not such a rare sight on The X-Files.
Contracted to several more episodes this season, Owens stands ready to serve, dead or alive.
"I'm quite prepared to sprout my wings," he says.
The two-parter also includes the return of Spender's alien-abducted mother, Cassandra -- "big news for me because all I've been doing is sitting down in the basement waiting for her to come back. That and shredding documents."
Also watch for developments in Spender's relationship with his scary father.
"He's not the warmest fellow in the world, so it's kind of hard to get to know him," jokes Owen. "He hasn't taken me to a single ball game."
Another Canadian cast member whose fate fans will be monitoring is Nicholas Lea, returning for the two-parter as Krycek, last seen months ago kissing Mulder. Having seen Rat Boy survive burial in a missile silo, infection with the mysterious black oil and a forcible amputation, Owens is betting Krycek will continue to cheat death every time.
"My theory is that the world will collapse. Armageddon. And there'll just be Krycek standing there with a cockroach on his prosthetic arm."
