Posted in: Fox, The X-Files, TV | Tagged: chris carter, David Duchovny, fox, gillian anderson, one piece, Steve Maeda, The X-Files, x-files

The X-Files "Was a Wonderful Place to Learn About Television": Maeda

Steve Maeda (One Piece) spoke with Bleeding Cool about his time on The X-Files as a writer & story editor and shared his favorite episode.

Steven Maeda has come a long way since his days starting out on network television as a writer under The X-Files creator Chris Carter. Aside from writing two episodes of Carter's short-lived series Harsh Realm, Maeda joined the long-running paranormal series late during its initial FOX run in season seven, writing the episode "Brand X" in 2000. He contributed as story editor for 40 episodes, with his promotion to executive story editor in the ninth and final episode. The final two seasons of the series initial run on FOX (not counting the two revival seasons on the network) saw a changing-of-the-guard with star David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) appearing in only half the season eight episodes and the series finale, Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully) taking a supportive role opposite Robert Patrick's John Doggett, and a reduced role with Annabeth Gish (Monica Reyes) joining the cast in season nine. While promoting his upcoming Netflix series in the live-action adaptation of One Piece, Maeda spoke with Bleeding Cool about what he learned from his time on the iconic sci-fi series.

"['The X-Files'] was a wonderful place to learn about television. It was my first job in TV. I feel fortunate as far as that," Maeda said. "Look, I wasn't making those decisions as far as the casting or the recasting of people. I love our cast. I loved David and Gillian, and then I worked a lot with Robert and Annabeth as well. It's tough. All I have to say is that when you have a beloved show with characters whom the audience is used to loving, having to recreate chemistry with others is challenging, to be sure. I enjoyed the episodes with those characters, but I know the ratings were falling, and it was tough. It was a tough thing to try and recreate the magic, if you will, but I learned a ton from that experience, particularly in how to produce television."

When it comes to his favorite episode, he credits producer Vince Gillian, who would go on to create the Breaking Bad franchise. "Oh gosh! My favorite was an episode I wrote called 'Redrum,' which was a backward episode, and it was a gigantic headache to break," he said. "There were a lot of great episodes in that, and particularly, I loved Vince Gillian's episodes. Those were always wonderful and loved in a nuance. You knew that Vince would become a special writer." The season eight episode follows Martin Wells (Joe Morton), a man who lives the most recent five days of his life backward and finds out that he is the main suspect in the murder of his wife. One Piece premieres August 31st on Netflix.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!