David Duchovny Recalls the 'Immediate Connection' with Gillian Anderson Before Being Cast on “The X-Files ”(Exclusive)

The Golden Globe-winning actor explains how the two former costars shared a “seminal” life experience working on ‘The X-Files’ together

When David Duchovny met Gillian Anderson during their auditions for The X-Files, their connection was instant.

“I think immediately, when we were reading together on the stairs to go in to audition, we knew that we could work together,” Duchovny tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, adding, “There was an immediate connection through the work that we could do, and that lasted for a long, long time.”

The X-Files was beloved by critics and millions of viewers around the world during its original nine-season run from 1993-2002. It was so beloved, that the Fox drama had two feature film spinoffs, The X-Files in 1998 and The X-Files: I Want to Believe in 2008. The show was also revived for two more seasons from 2016 to 2018, and both Duchovny, 63, and Anderson, 55, reprised their roles.

Related: David Duchovny on His Viral Lunch Date with 'X-Files' Costar Gillian Anderson

The show also became a launch pad for the actors’ careers. Duchovny, who went on to star in the series Californication, which earned him another Golden Globe, branched out, writing five books and recording three studio albums. Most recently, he launched the podcast Fail Better, which discusses his missteps and those of his celebrity guests like Ben Stiller, Bette Midler and Sarah Silverman.

“It’s not about reveling in the shame of it all,” Duchovny says. “It’s about the true hurt of it and the response after the hurt. How do you go ahead in your life stronger and not debilitated by the wound of a big failure?”

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He’s also putting himself out there with his new movie Reverse the Curse, premiering June 14, which he also directed and adapted from his 2016 novel Bucky F*cking Dent, about a complex father-son relationship.

Anderson, meanwhile, has honed her craft on the big and small screens, starring in projects like The Fall, The First Lady and Scoop. (Her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in season 4 of The Crown earned the actress her second Golden Globe statue and a Screen Actors Guild Award.) She has also appeared in stage productions of A Streetcar Named Desire, A Doll’s House and The Vagina Monologues.

Related: Scully and Mulder 'Aren't Together,' But Gillian Anderson Says She and 'X-Files' Costar David Duchovny's 'Adult Friendship' Still Has 'Kinetic Energy'

To the delight of their fans, Duchovny and Anderson have remained good friends over the years. In 2021, the two caught up in over lunch and shared a selfie on Instagram that went viral.

"I was having lunch with [Gillian], and as I was leaving she was like, 'Let's take a photo,'" Duchovny told PEOPLE In 2021. "I was told there was a big reaction to it! I never get that stuff, but it's really cool that people are interested after all these years."

Now, more than 30 years after The X-Files debuted, Duchovny understands why his friendship with Anderson has endured for as long as it has.

“When you share a seminal kind of experience in your life — this huge success with the show that we had — only we know what it's like to be in the center of that,” he explains. “It's almost like being in the same family. We know what it was like to be raised in that time. There's a certain kind of shared experience, knowledge, and past that never goes away.”

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All 11 seasons of The X-Files are available to stream on Hulu. Fail Better, a production of Lemonada Media, is available for listening on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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Read the original article on People.