Gillian Anderson Showed Her Sons The X-Files – and It Totally Terrified Them

01/13/2016 at 04:30 PM ET

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson
Jason Merritt/Getty

It turns out, it’s tough to predict what a child will find terrifying.

Once her kids were old enough, Gillian Anderson thought she was being smart about which The X-Files episode she decided to show sons Felix and Oscar. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.

Anderson, who stars in Fox’s six-episode X-Files revival, stopped by The Talk on Wednesday to reveal the horror story about showing her iconic role to sons Felix, 7, and Oscar, 9.

“It backfired so badly. I literally chose the least scary of all of them, which also happens to be my favorite episode, which is called ‘Bad Blood,’ ” Anderson explains.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson
Courtesy 20th Century Fox Film Corp

Unfortunately the “least scary” episode — which features Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Anderson) investigating possible vampires — still managed to terrify Anderson’s sons.

“They had nightmares for weeks!” Anderson says. “They’ve seen Harry Potter, they’ve seen Voldemort, they’ve seen Orcs, they’ve seen everything [and this scared them]. It literally is the bane of my existence.”

The X-Files returns to Fox on Jan. 24  at 10 p.m ET.

— Aaron Couch

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Showing 12 comments

Guest on January 13th, 2016

So happy that the x-files are coming back!!!! yaaaaay!!!

Alexis on January 13th, 2016

Lol, we watched this episode last week. It’s one of my faves and so funny!

XFile fan on January 13th, 2016

Loved X Files, have all the episodes, love Fox Mulder.

Milky on January 13th, 2016

Well duh. Common Sense Media lists it as a 13+ show!!

Katie on January 13th, 2016

It’s kinda scary show for kids.

mommytoane on January 14th, 2016

Considering the ages of the kids…yeah that is kinda scary for them. My daughter was around 11 when she started getting into “scary” stuff and even at 13 she still gets spooked easily. Kids have more active imaginations than adults and tend to spook easier. In a few years I bet that those kids will love the X Files.

Sally on January 14th, 2016

Yay no wonder this a 13 years old plus show.

Jenn on January 14th, 2016

My 30 year old friend was too scared to drive home and had to spend the night after watching “Tooms”! LOL!

Katie on January 14th, 2016

I was scared to not take VERY good care of my doll after seeing “Talking Tina” on Twilight Zone! I dressed her nicely, put her pjs on at night, and kept her hair fixed just so…scary shows can really bother children if they get it in their heads it can maybe, just maybe, happen. Her poor boys…7 and 9? Don’t think any episode of X Files wouldn’t terrify them……

Shawna on January 14th, 2016

Why would she show a show intended for older audiences to 7 and 9 year olds? I know this is intended to be a cute story, but I don’t find it cute at all. Once a person gets an image in their mind they can’t unsee it. Why do that to your kids?

Guest on January 16th, 2016

One of the best shows in TV history is coming back! I’m so excited! Totally relevant time for them to come back, too. Lots of shady stuff happening around us.

NV on January 16th, 2016

These two are my favorite actors! Nice to see the show is coming back.