David Duchovny Reveals He Almost Turned Down His Role in 'X-Files'

David Duchovny is looking back at a pivotal moment in his career.

In an appearance on Literally! With Rob Lowe on Wednesday (March 31), the actor revealed that he considered turning down The X-Files pilot.

“I had gotten… a couple of scenes in this movie of the week, and it was a director who I was friendly with, and I was going to have to…pull out of that part to do The X-Files pilot,” he told Rob. “I said to my agents, ‘I don’t want to do that. You know, she’s a friend, and I don’t want to pull out.’”

He added, “X-Files, this is about extraterrestrials. How long can it go? It’s a good pilot but you’re either going to see the aliens or [not].”

“I wasn’t interested in conspiracy theories,” David said, “and I was perfectly willing to just say, ‘I’m going to have to pass on that pilot, because I said I’d do this other project.’”

David‘s agents eventually convinced him to take the part.

“It’s scary to think back on, if you didn’t open this door, or you took that left instead of that right. It’s like, none of it had to happen,” he said. “You talk about actors being dumb… well, that was me.”

Rob also asked David whether another X Files movie was possibly in the works.

“That’s really a Fox question,” he said. “You know, they’re weird because it’s… a big-ticket property and you think, why wouldn’t you try to do another one? So, I don’t know.”

David recently joined the cast of another star-studded project!