This image is the cover for the book Monsters of the Week

Monsters of the Week

The complete critical companion to The X-Files, covering every episode and both films and featuring interviews with screenwriters and stars.

In Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files, TV critics Zack Handlen and Emily Todd VanDerWerff look back at exactly what made the long-running cult series so groundbreaking. Packed with insightful reviews of every episode—including the tenth and eleventh seasons and both major motion pictures—Monsters of the Week leaves no mystery unsolved and no monster unexplained. This crucial collection includes a foreword by series creator Chris Carter as well as exclusive interviews with some of show’s stars and screenwriters, including Carter, Vince Gilligan, Mitch Pileggi, James Wong, Robert Patrick, Darin Morgan, and more. Monsters of the Week is the definitive guide to The X-Files—whether you’re a lifelong viewer or a new fan uncovering the conspiracy for the first time.

“This rich critical companion provides what evert X-Files fan deserves.” —Entertainment Weekly

“The X-Files is my favorite show and Zack and Emily are my favorite reviewers of my favorite show and this is my favorite quote about it.” —Kumail Nanjiani, writer and star of The Big Sick; creator of The X-Files Files podcast

“If Mulder and Scully had access to this terrific book, they would’ve solved every mystery of The X-Files in a single season. . . . The truth is in here!” —Damon Lindelof, co-creator of Lost and The Leftovers

Zack Handlen, Emily Todd VanDerWerff, Chris Carter

Emily Todd VanDerWerff is the critic-at-large for Vox and the first TV editor of The A.V. Club. Her work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Salon, and Grantland. She lives in Los Angeles. Zack Handlen is a freelance writer whose work regularly appears online at The A.V. Club. He has also written for io9, Inverse, and the Toast and is the author of If You Like Monty Python . . . (Limelight, 2011). He lives in Portland, Maine. Described by Time magazine as a “televisionary,” Chris Carter created one of the most successful television franchises of all time with his award-winning series The X-Files. The show has run eleven seasons on Fox, is seen in over 60 countries, and has spawned two films and several comic book and video game adaptations. The impact of Carter’s series is such that Time named him one of “The 25 Most Influential People in America” in 1997. Carter also created the shows Millennium, Harsh Realm, and The Lone Gunmen.

Abrams Press