X-Files fans – don’t stop believing.

The critically and commercially successful sci-fi series may return to TV, and if star David Duchovny has his way, it will be “sooner rather than later.”

“[I’d be] more than happy and excited to bring it back and do it again with Gillian and Chris [Carter, the series showrunner]. I’m assuming that it will happen sooner rather than later now. We’ll see what form, how many [episodes].

“Certainly I can’t nor would I be interested in doing a full season. It will be in some kind of limited form. We’re all old, we don’t have the energy for a full season.”

The series centered around FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigating X-Files: unsolved cases dealing with the paranormal. Anderson’s Scully was the skeptical foil to Duchovny’s true-believer Mulder, and the show was a hit with audiences; at its conclusion, it had made television history as the longest-running science fiction series to date, spanning nine seasons from 1993 to 2002.

At the recent Television Critics Association press tour, Fox Television Group chairman Dana Walden commented on the likelihood of a show resurrection. “It was a great experience. We’ve maintained good relationships with Chris, David and Gillian. We’re very hopeful, but it’s hard. The actors are very busy. They have a lot going on. Chris has a lot on his plate, so it’s just trying to carve out the time.”

Gillian Anderson, who played skeptical Dana Scully to Duchovny’s true-believer Fox Mulder, also expressed her enthusiasm for a return of the show. “It’s always a matter of it actually happening – and there’s a lot that needs to happen between the idea and actually turning up on set, and I don’t unfortunately have any control over that.

“But would I do it? I would, yes.”