"Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" is the third episode of the tenth season of The X-Files, written and directed by Darin Morgan, it aired on February 1, 2016, on Fox and guest stars Rhys Darby as Guy Mann, Kumail Nanjiani as Pasha, and Tyler Labine as Stoner #1.
"Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" can trace its origin back to a script entitled "The M Word" that Morgan had written for Frank Spotnitz's short-lived show, Night Stalker.
Once it was decided that The X-Files would be revived, Morgan heavily modified his script so that it could work as an episode involving Mulder and Scully.
Mulder continues to question his faith in the unexplained as he attempts to gather proof of the existence of the new creature he and Scully investigate before jumping to conclusions.
During an inspection of a truck stop, Mulder, Scully, and an animal control officer named Pasha (Kumail Nanjiani) seemingly encounter the creature.
Eventually, evidence starts to coalesce, and Mulder begins to suspect that an individual named Guy Mann (Rhys Darby) is actually a murderous were-monster, capable of transforming into a lizard person.
Then, before Mulder's eyes, Mann turns back into his original lizard person form and scampers off into the night.
[4] The episode can trace its origin back to a script entitled "The M Word" that Morgan had written for Frank Spotnitz's short-lived show, Night Stalker.
Because the script had not been written with The X-Files in mind, Morgan was forced to "readjust everything, giving Mulder and Scully parts".
[10] Morgan enjoyed Nanjiani's "critical thinking about the series on [the] podcast", and he decided to offer him a role in this episode.
Nanjiani was worried that the fans would think he "ruined the show", and he jokingly said, "It's like being in love with a gorgeous woman for 20 years.
This is a reference to Morgan's "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", wherein the title character, after being asked by Scully how she will die, responds that she will not.
The graveyard where Mulder and Mann talk prominently features tombstones with the names "Kim Manners" and "Jack Hardy".
It scored a 2.7 Nielsen rating in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic (Nielsen ratings are audience measurement systems that determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States), which means that the episode was seen by 2.7 percent of all individuals aged 18- to 49-years old who were watching television at the time of the episode's airing.
[9] He concluded that the episode is "a brilliant and empathetic justification of the series' return" and therefore "makes the case for why The X-Files is still worth having around".