One of the more notable editions to The X-Files revival miniseries on Fox is comedian and actor Joel McHale. His casting announcement came as a bit of a surprise last June, primarily because his character was an Alex Jones-type conservative news show host. Since footage of McHale’s performance started making the rounds in the past few months, however, said surprise has turned into general excitement for the show’s return. Then again, some of that surprise might come back now that we know how McHale scored his big role.
Did he audition for the part? Did he impress creator Chris Carter with his past work in Community and The Soup? Not really, as it was actually McHale’s performance at the 2014 White House Correspondents Dinner that attracted Carter’s attention, per the Washington Post. “I cast Joel after seeing his appearance at the White House Correspondents dinner, which was hilarious, and he had exactly the quality I was looking for,” Carter said in a 22-minute featurette released in December.
Then again, it probably helps that McHale is also an admitted fan of the original series. In the same featurette, he said that “just knowing that I was going to be able to be on this series that I am a massive fan of, I couldn’t believe my good fortune. Then you meet David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. They are so cool and I asked them way too many questions.”
The X-Files revival premieres on Sunday, Jan. 24 at 10 p.m. ET on Fox.
(Via the Washington Post)
