The Lone Gunmen series

For information on the origins of the The Lone Gunmen, see The Lone Gunmen.

For the complete list of episodes of The Lone Gunmen, see Episodes.

The Lone Gunmen is a television spin-off of the popular series The X-Files. It aired on the Fox network, featuring the characters of the same name. The series revolves around the three characters of The Lone Gunmen: Melvin Frohike, John Fitzgerald Byers, and Richard Langly, a group of investigators who run a conspiracy theory magazine. They had often helped FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files. The show first aired in March 2001 and, despite good reviews, was canceled due to a drop in ratings. The last episode aired in June 2001.

Overview

Whereas The X-Files deals mainly with paranormal events and conspiracies to cover up extraterrestrial contact, The Lone Gunmen draws on secret activity of other kinds, such as government-sponsored terrorism, the development of a surveillance society, corporate crime, and escaped Nazis. The show has a light mood and elements of slapstick comedy. The trio are alternately aided and hindered by a mysterious thief named Yves Adele Harlow.

About

The Lone Gunmen is an American conspiracy fiction Thriller drama television series created by Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz. The program originally aired from Template:Start date, to Template:End date, on Fox. It is a spin-off of Carter's science fiction television series The X-Files and a part of The X-Files franchise, starring several of the show's characters. Despite positive reviews, its ratings dropped. The show was canceled after thirteen episodes. The last episode ended on a cliffhanger which was partially resolved in a ninth season episode of The X-Files entitled "Jump the Shark".

The debut of the show involved Byers' father faking his death to uncover a conspiracy to hijack an airliner. The Lone Gunmen try to get to the truth of his supposed death and uncover the conspiracy.

One retrospectively relevant aspect of this pilot episode is that the airliner has been hijacked (via remote control of the plane's autopilot) and, by the end, both Byers and his father have boarded the plane to try to stop the hijacking. Through the aid of the other Gunmen, they are able to regain control of the plane and just miss crashing into the World Trade Center with the airliner. This, ahead of the actual September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center later that year.

Their spin-off series involved investigating mostly corporate crime, aided (and sometimes hindered) by a mysterious thief named Yves Adele Harlow (Zuleikha Robinson). Despite fan loyalty, the show was ultimately canceled after 13 episodes. They return to The X-Files in the episode "Jump the Shark" in the show's ninth season where they were exposed to a deadly biological agent and ultimately died. They briefly reappeared in the series finale of The X-Files, as Mulder spoke to their ghosts.

Frank Spotnitz confirmed that had The Lone Gunmen returned for a second season, the character of Morris Fletcher (played by Michael McKean) was to have become a regular one, either assisting or antagonising (or possibly both) the three main protagonists.