As The X-Files returns to our screens for the first time in almost ten years, it's been pretty great to see Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny back together again.
As Scully and Mulder prepare to get back into their parks and pantsuits, something else from long ago is making its way back - the pay gap. Originally, when Gillian Anderson was offered the role back in 1993, she was offered less than half of what David Duchovny was offered.
Although Duchovny was slightly more experienced than Anderson, both actors were relatively unknown to most audiences before the series and both credit their careers to the X-Files' huge popularity. As Anderson described it in a recent interview, it took three years for her and Duchovny to have equal paycheques - and be on equal footing on the show.
"I can only imagine that at the beginning, they wanted me to be the sidekick," said Anderson. "Or that, somehow, maybe it was enough of a change just to see a woman having this kind of intellectual repartee with a man on camera, and surely the audience couldn’t deal with actually seeing them walk side by side!"
However, it appears that Gillian Anderson had to go through the same fight when it was announced that X-Files was being brought back for a revival series. It was disclosed that the experienced actor was offered - again - half of what David Duchovny was offered. "Especially in this climate of women talking about the reality of (unequal pay) in this business, I think it’s important that it gets heard and voiced. It was shocking to me, given all the work that I had done in the past to get us to be paid fairly. I worked really hard toward that and finally got somewhere with it."
“Even in interviews in the last few years, people have said to me, ‘I can’t believe that happened, how did you feel about it, that is insane.’ And my response always was, ‘That was then, this is now.’ And then it happened again! I don’t even know what to say about it."
Thankfully, it appears that Anderson and Duchovny are now on equal footing as sources close to the series have said that Anderson has secured equal pay with her co-star. Considering how the series is the two of them on equal footing and partners, it's crazy to think that one would be paid more than other.
Not only that, it's not as if Anderson's career waned in the interim. As well as starring in The Fall alongside Jamie Dornan, she also starred in the critically-acclaimed Hannibal alongside Mads Mikkelsen and is currently appearing in BBC's period drama War & Peace.
Via DailyBeast.com
