The seventh season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 1999, concluded on May 21, 2000, and consists of twenty-two episodes.

Before the broadcasting for the season began, Duchovny sued Fox and eventually announced his decision to leave the show.

After the events of the season six finale, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and Michael Kritschgau (John Finn) are desperately attempting to find the truth behind the so-called alien object.

Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Skinner are unaware of FBI Special Agent Diana Fowley's (Mimi Rogers) duplicity—she is working for Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis).

Scully then travels to Africa to unravel the secrets of the alien artifacts, finding something that looks like a spaceship buried under the shoreline off the Côte d'Ivoire coast.

Fowley helps Scully locate Mulder, which leads to her death at the hands of Cigarette Smoking Man.

[3][4] While investigating a bizarre disappearance of a young girl from her home, Mulder becomes obsessed with the number of children who have vanished in similar circumstances.

Together they locate evidence that proves that Samantha was abducted by Cigarette Smoking Man and was forced to live in a now-abandoned US Army base.

With a series of Alien abductions taking place, Mulder and Scully are contacted by Billy Miles (Zachary Ansley).

Scully falls ill during the investigation and returns to Washington, D.C. Cigarette Smoking Man contacts Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden) and Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), in an attempt to revive the government conspiracy.

With Covarrubias unwilling to assist, and Krycek seeking revenge, they contact Mulder after he visits an alien crash site.

[9][10] After five seasons in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, production of The X-Files moved to Los Angeles.

The move was instigated by Duchovny in order to facilitate his work in films as well as to give him a chance to be nearer to his wife, Téa Leoni.

Series creator Chris Carter opposed the move, but Fox network officials eventually made the decision to film in California.

[11][12] Many fans accused the show of "Hollywood-izing" by adding notable guests stars as well as making the plots simpler and more enjoyable for mass audiences.

[13] Originally, the mythology for season seven was supposed to continue from and show the ramifications of the "Two Fathers"/"One Son" story arc.

Frank Spotnitz, in an interview, explained that the mythology episodes for season seven would feature "characters you saw in 'One Son' coming back" and explore "what happens now that the conspiracy has been destroyed, what are the politics of the new landscape that exists.

Executive producer Frank Spotnitz later explained, "There was a pretty strong sentiment inside and outside the show that it was time to call it a day.

The fourth episode, "Millennium" was written as a way to bring closure to the recently cancelled Carter-created series of the same name.

Anderson originally approached Carter about writing and directing an episode of the series during the sixth season.

[23] Anderson crafted a script that would see Scully pursuing a "deeply personal X-File, one which in [she] is taken down a spiritual path when logic fails her".

Because Cigarette Smoking Man was able to manipulate Scully, Carter later referred to the "En Ami" as "the creepiest episode of the year.

One anonymous source noted that "the whole lawsuit thing revealed that Carter knew (Duchovny) was getting screwed and didn't warn him.

[35] Thomas Doherty from Cinefantastique gave the season a mixed review and noted that the series was hurt by the partnership between Mulder and Scully "settl[ing] into the comfortable groove of a modern two career marriage—supportive, professionally rewarding, and utterly sexless.

"[36] Further, he noted that "the most entertaining episode lately have been the self parodies, where killer cockroaches scurry and living dead roam, or where (in the Duchovny written and directed episode) Scully and Mulder are played by Téa Leoni and Garry Shandling in a motion picture only slightly more ludicrous than a 1998 motion picture called The X-Files.

Not even the magnificent season finale […] could erase the nagging doubts I had that a series that had been so amazing for so long would soon embark upon a new course wrought with pitfalls and turmoil.

One review from the New York Daily News called the outing "exceptionally clever"[35] whereas Starpulse named the episode the funniest of the series.