13 years after their “demise” on The X-Files, the Lone Gunmen are coming back!

The news was revealed when former X-Files recurring player, Dean Haglund told a crowd at the Camelot Lounge in Sydney, Australia that he, and his fellow Lone Gunmen, Bruce Harwood and Tom Braidwood have been invited to reprise their roles on Fox’s upcoming six-episode revival of The X-Files.

“Today, they contacted us,” said Haglund. “We’re shooting July 28. The gunmen are in the final six.”

The Lone Gunmen debuted early in the first season of The X-Files as counterculture conspiracy theorist hackers who aided Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) on several cases throughout the series’ nine season run on Fox. Haglund portrayed Richard Langly, Harwood played John Fitzgerald Byers, and Braidwood was Melvin Frohike. The trio were fan-favorites and the Lone Gunmen were even spun off into their own TV series in 2001.

Of course, the return of the Lone Gunmen begs the inevitable question: how are they even alive? During the final season of The X-Files, the Lone Gunmen sacrificed themselves to prevent the release of a deadly virus. Mulder even witnessed apparitions of the Lone Gunmen in the series’ final episode.

The X-Files comic book series from IDW has already retconned the death of Byers, Frohike, and Langly as a hoax designed to let them covertly work with the FBI. But The X-Files TV revival will likely have its own explanation as to why the Lone Gunmen survived the events depicted in the series.

Fox’s revival of The X-Files will begin on Sunday, January 24, 2016.

X-Files fans, how would you explain the return of The Lone Gunmen? Share your conspiracy theories below!

HT: Televised Revolution