Fox's limited revival of The X-Files is barrelling toward its return to TV, and a sizzle reel unveiled at the network's TCA panel this morning includes the best glimpse yet at the show's iconic antagonist. Presumed dead at the end of the show's original nine-season run, the Smoking Man (William B. David) is back to challenge, threaten, and thwart Mulder and Scully.
His hand made a brief appearance in an earlier official trailer — holding a cigarette, naturally — but the sizzle reel footage goes further, showing the side of his face in a well-appointed living room with a roaring fireplace. (There's always room for decor criticism in a run-of-the-mill trailer post.) "We have a small problem," he tells an unknown acquaintance. "They're reopened the X-Files." Spooky! Most of the other footage included has been recycled from earlier trailers and clips, but you don't have to wait much longer until the show's back in earnest: The X-Files' first new episode premieres after the NFC championship on January 24th.