{"id":251352,"date":"2026-01-25T17:46:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/251352\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T17:46:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:46:20","slug":"how-an-x-files-episode-created-tvs-scariest-villain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/251352\/","title":{"rendered":"How An X-Files Episode Created TV’s Scariest Villain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Chris Snellgrove<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t | Published 6 seconds ago\t\t<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Everybody (even those who have never even seen the show) knows that the Big Bad of The X-Files is the Cigarette Smoking Man, the shady nicotine fiend played by William B. Davis. This character has been in the show since the pilot episode, so many assume that he was always meant to be Mulder and Scully\u2019s archnemesis. But in a twist worthy of this conspiracy-obsessed show, Davis was originally hired to be an unspeaking menace, and he wasn\u2019t firmly established as the show\u2019s archvillain until the excellent Season 2 episode \u201cOne Breath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start from the beginning; in this case, the very first episode of The X-Files. William B. Davis appears in this episode but never says anything. In the scenes where Scully is meeting with her superiors at the FBI, the Cigarette Smoking Man just lurks in the background, forcing the audience to wonder what the heck this creepy guy\u2019s deal is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evil Finds Its Voice<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The character didn\u2019t speak until the Season 1 episode \u201cTooms,\u201d which effectively cemented his identity as the CSM.\u00a0 This is important because Davis previously appeared as a CIA agent in \u201cYoung At Heart,\u201d making it appear like the actor was little more than a glorified extra!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of this, the director of the Season 2 episode \u201cOne Breath\u201d (Robert Goodwin) was worried because the script gave William B. Davis more to do on The X-Files than he had ever done before. Others on the production team shared his concerns that the actor wouldn\u2019t be up to the task, and episode cowriter Glen Morgan had to convince the director that Davis (then a drama teacher) knew how to deliver a good performance. This was enough to mollify Goodwin, who was ultimately impressed by the actor\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

The Truth Is In Here<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But why, specifically, was Goodwin so concerned about whether Davis had the acting chops for this episode? The short answer is that \u201cOne Breath\u201d firmly established the Cigarette Smoking Man as the show\u2019s ultimate villain, someone willing and able to toy with the lives of our favorite FBI agents whenever he wanted to. In this episode, Mulder deduces that the CSM was behind Scully\u2019s recent abduction and is doubly angry at him because she is currently in a comatose state; after convincing Deputy Director Skinner to give him the man\u2019s address, Mulder actually ambushes the Cigarette Smoking Man at his own home.<\/p>\n

Despite being held at gunpoint, the Cigarette Smoking Man is quite relaxed, informing his would-be killer that he likes Mulder and Scully, which is the only reason that Scully was returned to Mulder after her previous abduction. Even as he admits that he\u2019s starting to respect Mulder, the CSM claims the other man won\u2019t pull the trigger because it would mean killing the one man who knows the truth. He claims this is why he will always win, and a defeated Mulder ends up leaving the house, no closer to saving Scully or learning anything about who took her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mulder\u2019s Dark Reflection<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This X-Files scene is relatively short, but it positions Cigarette Smoking Man as the ultimate villain: he knows the elusive truth Mulder is always seeking and can have him and Scully killed whenever the mood strikes him. Adding insult to injury, he also points out that the only reason these two pesky FBI agents aren\u2019t already dead is that he likes them. Just like that, Mulder learned that his fate is in the hands of a ruthless murderer who is starting to become his number one fan!<\/p>\n

As director Robert Goodwin later noted, William B. Davis does an amazing job in this scene, presenting the Cigarette Smoking Man as a mirror image of Mulder himself. He, too, \u201cwants to believe\u201d and has dedicated his life to a cause that he thinks is righteous, one that he\u2019s willing to kill in order to protect. Davis\u2019 performance gives the character both steely menace and even a brief glimpse of vulnerability, emphasizing him as a very human threat that is nonetheless more dangerous than all the aliens<\/a> and monsters on the show combined.<\/p>\n

From here on, the Cigarette Smoking Man would appear in more and more X-Files episodes, including the series finale, the first movie, and even the show\u2019s controversial revival. This would never have happened if William B. Davis hadn\u2019t demonstrated his ability to bring TV\u2019s scariest villain to life. In this sense, he owes both his fame and his character\u2019s popularity to \u201cOne Breath,\u201d an overlooked tale that is secretly one of the most important episodes in X-Files history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Chris Snellgrove | Published 6 seconds ago Everybody (even those who have never even seen the show)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,145976,111,139,69,145977,145978,145979,106164,437,131380,145980],"class_list":{"0":"post-251352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-glen-morgan","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-robert-goodwin","14":"tag-the-x-files","15":"tag-the-x-files-trivia","16":"tag-trivia","17":"tag-tv","18":"tag-tv-trivia","19":"tag-william-b-davis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}