Three Words (The X-Files)

"**Three Words**"
"Three Words"
The X-Files episode
	The titular "Three Words": Fight the Future. The phrase is an important recurring motif in The X-Files universe and was the tagline for the 1998 film.
Episode no.	Season 8; Episode 16
Directed by	Tony Wharmby
Written by	Chris Carter; Frank Spotnitz
Production code	8ABX18
Original air date	April 8, 2001
Running time	44 minutes
Guest appearances
	Adam Baldwin as Knowle Rohrer; Joe Basile as Lead White House Guard; Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike; Gary Bristow as Howard Salt; Dean Haglund as Richard Langly; Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers; Dwight Hicks as Armed Prison Guard; Nelson Mashita as Dr. Lim; JC Murad as FBI Guard On Intercom; James Pickens, Jr. as Deputy Director Alvin Kersh; Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Walter Skinner; Ric Sarabia as Marion; Judson Scott as Absalom;
Episode chronology
← Previous; "Deadalive"	Next →; "Empedocles"
	The X-Files season 8
	List of episodes

"Three Words" is the sixteenth episode of the eighth season (and the 177th episode overall) of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It first aired in the United States and Canada on April 8, 2001, on Fox. Written by executive producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Tony Wharmby, it explores the series' overarching mythology. It earned a Nielsen rating of 7.6, viewed by 7.77 million households, and received mixed to positive reviews from television critics.

The episode centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and John Doggett (Robert Patrick), who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files, following Mulder's return from the dead in the previous episode. When a man is gunned down on the White House lawn attempting to inform the president of a pending alien invasion, Mulder secretly conducts his own investigation, and believes Doggett is working to conceal the truth of alien colonization.

The episode signalled Mulder's forthcoming exit from the FBI, which was devised to allow the show to more easily focus on the characters of John Doggett and Monica Reyes in the following season. Duchovny declared he had been happy to see the series' focus shift to other characters.

^ "The X-Files - "Three Words"". TheXFiles.com. Fox Broadcasting Company. February 2002. Archived from the original on 7 February 2002. Retrieved 27 April 2012.

[cast-1] "The X-Files - "Three Words"". TheXFiles.com. Fox Broadcasting Company. February 2002. Archived from the original on 7 February 2002. Retrieved 27 April 2012.

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