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. The season would be the last to feature co-star David Duchovny in full-time capacity. He would return in later seasons as an intermittent main character.
Season seven takes place after the destruction of the Syndicate, which marked the end of their long-running story arc. This season marks the end of various other story lines, most notably the revelation of Samantha Mulder's fate to her brother, Fox Mulder. In addition, because sister show Millennium was cancelled in 1999 without concluding any of the shows extended plot lines, Chris Carter felt he needed to bring closure for his cancelled show. As a result, the episode "Millennium" was written and produced.
The fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on October 4, 1996, concluding on the same channel on May 18, 1997, and contained 24 episodes. Following the filming and airing of the season, production began on The X-Files feature film, which was released in 1998 following the show's fifth season.
The fourth season of the series focused heavily on FBI federal agents Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) and his partner Dana Scully's (Gillian Anderson) investigation of an alien conspiracy, which is protected by the mysterious Syndicate. Midway through the season, Scully is diagnosed with terminal cancer, a result of her previous abduction, and Mulder begins to lose his faith in the idea of extraterrestrials. The season ends on a cliffhanger, with the purported suicide of Mulder.