Cigarette Smoking Man
Encyclopedia
The Smoking Man is a fictional character
and the antagonist
on the American science fiction
television series The X-Files
. He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI
Special Agent
Fox Mulder
. Although his name is revealed to purportedly be C.G.B. Spender in the show's sixth season, fans continue to refer to him as the Smoking Man because he is almost always seen chain-smoking Morley cigarettes
and because he, like other series villains, has multiple aliases.
Although he utters only four audible words in the entire first season of the show, the Smoking Man eventually develops into the series' primary antagonist
. In his early appearances, he is seen in the offices of Division Chief Scott Blevins and Assistant Director Walter Skinner
, Mulder and his partner Dana Scully
's supervisors. He works for a government conspiracy
only known as the Syndicate
, who are hiding the truth of alien existence and their plan to colonize Earth.
The Smoking Man is portrayed by Canadian actor William B. Davis
. When Davis first received the role, the character was written as "just another" extra for the pilot episode. He eventually returned for small cameo appearance
s during the first season, making increasingly more appearances in the seasons that followed. Davis never received an award for his portrayal alone, but he was nominated for ensemble awards.
," where one of the conspiracy theorists known as The Lone Gunmen
claims Smoking Man was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
, on August 20, 1940. This, however, is directly contradicted by the third season episode "Apocrypha
," in which a young adult Smoking Man is one of three government agents who interrogate a severely burned submariner in the U.S. Navy Hospital at Pearl Harbor, on August 19, 1953. In that scene, Smoking Man was played by 24-year-old actor Craig Warkentin. Yet according to The Lone Gunmen's chronology, Smoking Man would then have been only 12 years old.
Also in "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
," he is said to have grown up an orphan, his father having been executed by electric chair
in Louisiana for treason for working as a Soviet spy, and his mother having died of lung cancer from smoking. In 1962, he was stationed along with Bill Mulder at the US Army Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
. He was known for having a long history in black ops and American intelligence. He was potentially involved in the training of Cuban
rebels in the Bay of Pigs
. It is also revealed that he personally carried out the assassinations of John F. Kennedy
and Martin Luther King as revealed in "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
", though the veracity of that episode is somewhat unclear. In his first appearance in the series, he oversees FBI agent Dana Scully
's briefing and debriefing, and later disposes of evidence Mulder and Scully had brought back from their investigation of an alien abduction. With the Smoking Man hiding truth from the public, Mulder seeks to reveal it to the public and the truth about the disappearance of his sister, Samantha
. This leads to a rivalry that lasts until the end of the series.
In later seasons, it is revealed that he is a member of an unnamed group known as the Syndicate
, a shadowy organization within the United States government. The episode "Two Fathers
" reveals his birthname or alias
as C.G.B. Spender, and that he was formerly married to Cassandra Spender, with whom he had a son, Jeffrey Spender
. He recruits FBI Special Agent Diana Fowley to be a subordinate of his because she has a close relationship with Mulder. In "One Son
", Jeffrey finds out that his father, the Smoking Man, forced his mother Cassandra to undergo medical treatments that led to several nervous breakdown
s during his childhood years. When the Smoking Man finds out, he seemingly kills Jeffrey. Knowing of the colonization plan, the Alien rebels return to Earth
to try to persuade the Syndicate to join their side against their war with the Colonists. Not believing in the strength of the Alien rebels, the Syndicate members meet at El Rico Air Base to be transported to a spaceship to survive the colonization. But the rebels appear instead of the Colonists and kill all remaining chief members of the Syndicate. Together with Fowley, he escapes the destruction of the Syndicate. Later in the sixth season, there is more evidence that suggested that the Smoking Man is Mulder's biological father. Eventually in "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
", Fowley comes in disagreement with him. Because of his plans to kill Mulder, Fowley helps Scully in her investigation to locate Mulder, which leads to her death. After the destruction of the Syndicate, the Smoking Man started to operate as he wished. However, his cancer resurfaced, and he became wheelchair
-bound. In the end, Alex Krycek
and Marita Covarrubias betray him in the episode "Requiem", throwing him down a flight of stairs, where they presume him to be dead.
Until the ninth season
episode "William", the Smoking Man is presumed dead until Spender reappears. It is learned that his attempted murder of his son failed, which led him to subject his son to terrible experiments. In the series finale
, "The Truth
", Mulder and Scully travel through remote New Mexico
and reach a pueblo
where a "wise man" reputedly lives. It is in fact the Smoking Man. He is shown to be in the same condition as when he disappeared, but has degenerated further. He lives a primitive life in hiding from the "New" Syndicate. He tells Mulder and Scully all he has left to reveal (including the fact that the aliens are scheduled to invade in 2012), and shortly after is finally killed by a missile shot from a helicopter ordered by Knowle Rohrer.
, a director of several X-Files episodes, said that the Smoking Man was the show's version of "Darth Vader
. Some X-Files fans have categorized the Smoking Man as "evil", making him out to be the villain. Carter on the other hand, once called him "the devil", which was received mixedly by fans. Other fans, along with the portraying actor, see him as a "hero", as he is forced to make choices others do not.
On the surface, it may seem that the Smoking Man merely tries to hide information from Fox Mulder
and Dana Scully
, but there is much more to him. He is involved in the Syndicate
, a shadow organization which includes members of the United States government that exists to hide from the public the fact that aliens are planning to colonize Earth
. Smoking Man often ruthlessly protects the secrets of the conspiracy, and serves as the main antagonist
to Mulder, who has an equally consuming devotion to reveal the truth in the first seven seasons. Although his actions can be described as monstrous for the most part, his stated justification
is a desire to prevent the alien colonization for as long as possible, and he is at times shown working towards that goal, particularly in connection with developing a vaccine to protect people from the "black oil
", a parasitic agent which the alien Colonists
use to propagate themselves.
When first cast for the role, portraying actor William B. Davis
thought a show about the paranormal
wouldn't last for long. Before joining The X-Files
cast, Davis had not smoked a cigarette in twenty years. For the first two episodes he appeared in, he smoked "real" cigarette
s, but later changed to herbal cigarettes, giving the reason that it was "dangerous" for his health. In at least one early script draft from the "Pilot", a Special Agent
named Lake Drazen is present at the meeting near the start of the episode, having chosen Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
) for an assignment to evaluate the validity of Fox Mulder
's (David Duchovny
) work on the X-File
s. The scene was eventually deleted and replaced, many staff members hints to that Drazen became the Smoking Man.
Kim Manners
said that it seemed all the prominent pieces created for The X-Files were created by "accident". According to Manners, Davis was nothing more than an extra leaning on a shelf. At the start, the producers of the show were not sure about making the Smoking Man the main antagonist
. Paul Rabwin commented once that he didn't know if Davis could handle the role, because he was not sure if he was a "good enough" actor for the role. Manners later commented that Davis knew that the Smoking Man had two different characters, the first being the one played by Davis and the second was the cigarettes. He further stated that the cigarette smoke could tell a "whole story" by itself, thanks to Davis' talent.
Fans of the series were active in debating if the Smoking Man was actually dead after the events of the season five premiere "Redux
". In his first response, Chris Carter
said he had left clues in the episode, and he later officially announced that the character would appear in The X-Files movie. In one of his last comments on the matter, he said "Not that we haven't brought deceased characters back before, in flashbacks or more paranormal ways. The great thing about The X-Files is that anything can happen."
The Smoking Man is the only character in the series, in addition to Mulder and Scully, to appear in both the first episode, "pilot" and the last, "The Truth
" of the series. Portraying actor William B. Davis
was listed as CIA Agent in the first season
episode "Young at Heart
", instead of his usual character, the Smoking Man. Actor Chris Owens
for a time portrayed the Smoking Man as a young man in flashback
s. He later plays his son, Jeffrey Spender
. Young Cigarette Smoking Man was first played by Craig Warkentin, with Davis's voice dubbed
over in "Apocrypha
".
, William B. Davis
and several other cast members were nominated in the category "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series" by the Screen Actors Guild Awards
in 1997, 1998 and 1999 but did not win. The character was regularly voted "The Nastiest Villain" on television polls during the 90s. TV Guide
listed Cigarette Smoking Man 20th in their "25 Greatest TV Villains" list. According to the portraying actor, the character had garnered protest from "pro-smokers". Entertainment Weekly
writer Jennifer Armstrong cited the character as an example of the old tradition of only having "bad guys" smoking on television.
Davis was included in Entertainment Weeklys list of the 50 Biggest Emmy Snubs, the list's author saying that the presence of the "Cigarette Smoking Man" was as important as "black oil, alien implants, and Scully's skepticism". The Malaysian newspaper
the New Straits Times
called the Smoking Man one of the most "intriguing" character of the show. However, Christianity Today
said that the mystery behind the Smoking Man had evaporated by the late season episodes. Likewise, Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly felt that "the monotonous evil of Cancer Man" had "become actively annoying" in later seasons of the show, being that his lurking presence did not seem as mysterious anymore. Salon reviewer Jeff Stark felt the show was at its best when you "didn't exactly know the motivations of the Smoking Man".
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
and the antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
on the American science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
. He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
Special Agent
Special agent
Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....
Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
. Although his name is revealed to purportedly be C.G.B. Spender in the show's sixth season, fans continue to refer to him as the Smoking Man because he is almost always seen chain-smoking Morley cigarettes
Morley (cigarette)
Morley is a fictional brand of cigarette that has appeared in various television shows, films, and even video games that otherwise have no connections to each other. The iconic, fictional brand resembles the actual, original Marlboro brand of cigarettes...
and because he, like other series villains, has multiple aliases.
Although he utters only four audible words in the entire first season of the show, the Smoking Man eventually develops into the series' primary antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
. In his early appearances, he is seen in the offices of Division Chief Scott Blevins and Assistant Director Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
, Mulder and his partner Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
's supervisors. He works for a government conspiracy
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
only known as the Syndicate
Syndicate (The X-Files)
The Syndicate is a fictional "shadow government" group featured in The X-Files television show and feature film created by Chris Carter. They were also known as The Elders, The Consortium, and The Group...
, who are hiding the truth of alien existence and their plan to colonize Earth.
The Smoking Man is portrayed by Canadian actor William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
. When Davis first received the role, the character was written as "just another" extra for the pilot episode. He eventually returned for small cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s during the first season, making increasingly more appearances in the seasons that followed. Davis never received an award for his portrayal alone, but he was nominated for ensemble awards.
Character arc
Within the series, the birth date of the Smoking Man is never revealed. Much of his background is purportedly revealed in the fourth season episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking ManMusings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the seventh episode broadcast in the show's fourth season...
," where one of the conspiracy theorists known as The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen are a trio of fictional characters, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who have recurring roles on the American television series The X-Files. They also starred in a short-lived spin-off, also called The Lone Gunmen. The name was derived from the lone...
claims Smoking Man was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, on August 20, 1940. This, however, is directly contradicted by the third season episode "Apocrypha
Apocrypha (The X-Files)
"Apocrypha" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the sixteenth episode broadcast in the show's third season. Apocrypha continues the previous episode's storyline regarding the appearance of an alien black oil.- Plot :...
," in which a young adult Smoking Man is one of three government agents who interrogate a severely burned submariner in the U.S. Navy Hospital at Pearl Harbor, on August 19, 1953. In that scene, Smoking Man was played by 24-year-old actor Craig Warkentin. Yet according to The Lone Gunmen's chronology, Smoking Man would then have been only 12 years old.
Also in "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the seventh episode broadcast in the show's fourth season...
," he is said to have grown up an orphan, his father having been executed by electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
in Louisiana for treason for working as a Soviet spy, and his mother having died of lung cancer from smoking. In 1962, he was stationed along with Bill Mulder at the US Army Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, in Cumberland and Hoke counties, North Carolina, U.S., mostly in Fayetteville but also partly in the town of Spring Lake. It was also a census-designated place in the 2010 census and had a population of 39,457. The fort is named for Confederate...
. He was known for having a long history in black ops and American intelligence. He was potentially involved in the training of Cuban
Cubans
Cubans or Cuban people are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
rebels in the Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...
. It is also revealed that he personally carried out the assassinations of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and Martin Luther King as revealed in "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the seventh episode broadcast in the show's fourth season...
", though the veracity of that episode is somewhat unclear. In his first appearance in the series, he oversees FBI agent Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
's briefing and debriefing, and later disposes of evidence Mulder and Scully had brought back from their investigation of an alien abduction. With the Smoking Man hiding truth from the public, Mulder seeks to reveal it to the public and the truth about the disappearance of his sister, Samantha
Samantha Mulder
Samantha Ann Mulder is a fictional character in the television series The X-Files. She is the sister of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder and the daughter of Teena and Bill Mulder. As a child, Samantha was abducted, ostensibly by aliens, and was never recovered...
. This leads to a rivalry that lasts until the end of the series.
In later seasons, it is revealed that he is a member of an unnamed group known as the Syndicate
Syndicate (The X-Files)
The Syndicate is a fictional "shadow government" group featured in The X-Files television show and feature film created by Chris Carter. They were also known as The Elders, The Consortium, and The Group...
, a shadowy organization within the United States government. The episode "Two Fathers
Two Fathers
"Two Fathers" is the 128th episode of the series, and the eleventh episode of the sixth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on February 7, 1999, on the Fox Network and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on Sky1...
" reveals his birthname or alias
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
as C.G.B. Spender, and that he was formerly married to Cassandra Spender, with whom he had a son, Jeffrey Spender
Jeffrey Spender
FBI Special agent Jeffrey Frank Spender is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence. Spender was in control of the X-Files office after Fox Mulder's and Dana Scully's...
. He recruits FBI Special Agent Diana Fowley to be a subordinate of his because she has a close relationship with Mulder. In "One Son
One Son
"One Son" is the 129th episode of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on February 14, 1999 on the Fox Network, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on Sky1...
", Jeffrey finds out that his father, the Smoking Man, forced his mother Cassandra to undergo medical treatments that led to several nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
s during his childhood years. When the Smoking Man finds out, he seemingly kills Jeffrey. Knowing of the colonization plan, the Alien rebels return to Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
to try to persuade the Syndicate to join their side against their war with the Colonists. Not believing in the strength of the Alien rebels, the Syndicate members meet at El Rico Air Base to be transported to a spaceship to survive the colonization. But the rebels appear instead of the Colonists and kill all remaining chief members of the Syndicate. Together with Fowley, he escapes the destruction of the Syndicate. Later in the sixth season, there is more evidence that suggested that the Smoking Man is Mulder's biological father. Eventually in "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
"The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" is the second episode of the seventh season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" concludes a trilogy of episodes featuring Mulder's severe reaction to the appearance of an alien artifact...
", Fowley comes in disagreement with him. Because of his plans to kill Mulder, Fowley helps Scully in her investigation to locate Mulder, which leads to her death. After the destruction of the Syndicate, the Smoking Man started to operate as he wished. However, his cancer resurfaced, and he became wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
-bound. In the end, Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek is a fictional character in the long-running American science fiction show, The X-Files portrayed by Nicholas Lea. Initially introduced in the second season as a partner for main character Fox Mulder in the absence of his previous partner, Dana Scully, Krycek grew to become one of the...
and Marita Covarrubias betray him in the episode "Requiem", throwing him down a flight of stairs, where they presume him to be dead.
Until the ninth season
The X-Files (season 9)
The ninth season of The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on November 11, 2001, concluded on May 19, 2002, and consists of twenty episodes. The X-Files is an American serial science fiction-horror-thriller television series. Season nine took place after Fox Mulder's leave after the...
episode "William", the Smoking Man is presumed dead until Spender reappears. It is learned that his attempted murder of his son failed, which led him to subject his son to terrible experiments. In the series finale
Series finale
A series finale refers to the last installment of a series with a narrative presented through mediums such as television, film and literature. In many Commonwealth countries, the term final episode is commonly used in regards to a television series...
, "The Truth
The Truth (The X-Files)
"The Truth" is the collective name for the 201st and 202nd, and final, episodes of the science fiction television series The X-Files. They first aired in the United States on May 19, 2002 on Fox in the United States and Canada. "The Truth" subsequently aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It...
", Mulder and Scully travel through remote New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and reach a pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
where a "wise man" reputedly lives. It is in fact the Smoking Man. He is shown to be in the same condition as when he disappeared, but has degenerated further. He lives a primitive life in hiding from the "New" Syndicate. He tells Mulder and Scully all he has left to reveal (including the fact that the aliens are scheduled to invade in 2012), and shortly after is finally killed by a missile shot from a helicopter ordered by Knowle Rohrer.
Characterization
Kim MannersKim Manners
Kim Manners was an American television producer, director and child actor best known for his work on The X-Files and Supernatural.-Early life:...
, a director of several X-Files episodes, said that the Smoking Man was the show's version of "Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
. Some X-Files fans have categorized the Smoking Man as "evil", making him out to be the villain. Carter on the other hand, once called him "the devil", which was received mixedly by fans. Other fans, along with the portraying actor, see him as a "hero", as he is forced to make choices others do not.
On the surface, it may seem that the Smoking Man merely tries to hide information from Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
, but there is much more to him. He is involved in the Syndicate
Syndicate (The X-Files)
The Syndicate is a fictional "shadow government" group featured in The X-Files television show and feature film created by Chris Carter. They were also known as The Elders, The Consortium, and The Group...
, a shadow organization which includes members of the United States government that exists to hide from the public the fact that aliens are planning to colonize Earth
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
. Smoking Man often ruthlessly protects the secrets of the conspiracy, and serves as the main antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
to Mulder, who has an equally consuming devotion to reveal the truth in the first seven seasons. Although his actions can be described as monstrous for the most part, his stated justification
Justification
Justification may refer to:*Theory of justification, a part of epistemology that attempts to understand the justification of propositions and beliefs*Justification , defence in a prosecution for a criminal offense...
is a desire to prevent the alien colonization for as long as possible, and he is at times shown working towards that goal, particularly in connection with developing a vaccine to protect people from the "black oil
Black Oil
Black Oil may refer to:* Black Oil , an alien virus in the X-Files episode The Colonist* a sunflower variety...
", a parasitic agent which the alien Colonists
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
use to propagate themselves.
Development
| "I tried to put myself in the character’s shoes and see the world from his point of view. After all, villains don’t think they are villains." |
| — William B. Davis William B. Davis William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville... talking about his character. |
When first cast for the role, portraying actor William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
thought a show about the paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
wouldn't last for long. Before joining The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
cast, Davis had not smoked a cigarette in twenty years. For the first two episodes he appeared in, he smoked "real" cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
s, but later changed to herbal cigarettes, giving the reason that it was "dangerous" for his health. In at least one early script draft from the "Pilot", a Special Agent
Special agent
Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....
named Lake Drazen is present at the meeting near the start of the episode, having chosen Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
) for an assignment to evaluate the validity of Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
's (David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
) work on the X-File
X-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
s. The scene was eventually deleted and replaced, many staff members hints to that Drazen became the Smoking Man.
Kim Manners
Kim Manners
Kim Manners was an American television producer, director and child actor best known for his work on The X-Files and Supernatural.-Early life:...
said that it seemed all the prominent pieces created for The X-Files were created by "accident". According to Manners, Davis was nothing more than an extra leaning on a shelf. At the start, the producers of the show were not sure about making the Smoking Man the main antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
. Paul Rabwin commented once that he didn't know if Davis could handle the role, because he was not sure if he was a "good enough" actor for the role. Manners later commented that Davis knew that the Smoking Man had two different characters, the first being the one played by Davis and the second was the cigarettes. He further stated that the cigarette smoke could tell a "whole story" by itself, thanks to Davis' talent.
Fans of the series were active in debating if the Smoking Man was actually dead after the events of the season five premiere "Redux
Redux (The X-Files)
"Redux" is the collective name for the 98th and 99th episodes of the science fiction television series The X-Files. Part 1 first aired on November 2 and Part 2 aired on November 9, 1997 on Fox in the United States and Canada. Both episodes subsequently aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The...
". In his first response, Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
said he had left clues in the episode, and he later officially announced that the character would appear in The X-Files movie. In one of his last comments on the matter, he said "Not that we haven't brought deceased characters back before, in flashbacks or more paranormal ways. The great thing about The X-Files is that anything can happen."
The Smoking Man is the only character in the series, in addition to Mulder and Scully, to appear in both the first episode, "pilot" and the last, "The Truth
The Truth (The X-Files)
"The Truth" is the collective name for the 201st and 202nd, and final, episodes of the science fiction television series The X-Files. They first aired in the United States on May 19, 2002 on Fox in the United States and Canada. "The Truth" subsequently aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It...
" of the series. Portraying actor William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
was listed as CIA Agent in the first season
The X-Files (season 1)
The first season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on September 10, 1993 and concluded on the same channel on May 13, 1994 after airing all 24 episodes....
episode "Young at Heart
Young at Heart (The X-Files)
"Young at Heart" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on February 11, 1994. It was written by Scott Kaufer and series creator Chris Carter, and directed by Michael Lange. The episode featured...
", instead of his usual character, the Smoking Man. Actor Chris Owens
Chris Owens (actor)
Christopher Bradley "Chris" Owens is a Canadian actor.Owens was born in Toronto, the son of Jeannette, a jazz singer, and Garry Owens, a jazz drummer....
for a time portrayed the Smoking Man as a young man in flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s. He later plays his son, Jeffrey Spender
Jeffrey Spender
FBI Special agent Jeffrey Frank Spender is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence. Spender was in control of the X-Files office after Fox Mulder's and Dana Scully's...
. Young Cigarette Smoking Man was first played by Craig Warkentin, with Davis's voice dubbed
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
over in "Apocrypha
Apocrypha (The X-Files)
"Apocrypha" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the sixteenth episode broadcast in the show's third season. Apocrypha continues the previous episode's storyline regarding the appearance of an alien black oil.- Plot :...
".
Reception
While not being nominated for any of his work alone on The X-FilesThe X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
, William B. Davis
William B. Davis
William Bruce Davis is a Canadian actor, known for his role as The Smoking Man on The X-Files. He has also appeared in Stargate SG-1 as Damaris, a Prior of the Ori and as Mayor Tate on Smallville...
and several other cast members were nominated in the category "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series" by the Screen Actors Guild Awards
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
in 1997, 1998 and 1999 but did not win. The character was regularly voted "The Nastiest Villain" on television polls during the 90s. TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
listed Cigarette Smoking Man 20th in their "25 Greatest TV Villains" list. According to the portraying actor, the character had garnered protest from "pro-smokers". Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
writer Jennifer Armstrong cited the character as an example of the old tradition of only having "bad guys" smoking on television.
Davis was included in Entertainment Weeklys list of the 50 Biggest Emmy Snubs, the list's author saying that the presence of the "Cigarette Smoking Man" was as important as "black oil, alien implants, and Scully's skepticism". The Malaysian newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
the New Straits Times
New Straits Times
The New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print , having been founded as The Straits Times in 1845, and was reestablished as the "New Straits Times" in 1965. The paper served as Malaysia's only broadsheet format English...
called the Smoking Man one of the most "intriguing" character of the show. However, Christianity Today
Christianity Today
Christianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 140,000 and readership of 290,000...
said that the mystery behind the Smoking Man had evaporated by the late season episodes. Likewise, Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly felt that "the monotonous evil of Cancer Man" had "become actively annoying" in later seasons of the show, being that his lurking presence did not seem as mysterious anymore. Salon reviewer Jeff Stark felt the show was at its best when you "didn't exactly know the motivations of the Smoking Man".
External links
- Cigarette Smoking Man at The X-Files Wiki
- Cigarette Smoking Man at the BBC