page_title: The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
section_title: Casting and filming
hierarchical_section_title: The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati / Production / Casting and filming
caption_attribution_description: Mimi Rogers at the premiere for Earth
context_page_description: "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" is the second episode of the seventh season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was directed by Michael Watkins and written by lead actor David Duchovny and series creator Chris Carter. The installment explores the series' overarching mythology and concludes a trilogy of episodes revolving around Fox Mulder's severe reaction to an alien artifact. Originally aired by the Fox network on November 14, 1999, "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" received a Nielsen rating of 10.1 and was seen by 16.15 million viewers. Initial reviews were mixed, and the plot and dialogue attracted criticism. Later critics viewed the episode in a more positive light, and several writers named it among the best in the series.
  The X-Files centers on Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents Mulder and Dana Scully, who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, and the skeptical Scully was initially assigned to debunk his work, but the two have developed a deep friendship.
context_section_description: "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" features a number of actors and actresses who had not appeared on the show for two or three years, including Hardin as Deep Throat, Rebecca Toolan as Teena Mulder, and Megan Leitch as Samantha Mulder. Hardin had last appeared in the fourth-season episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" during a flashback sequence, and Toolan's most recent role was in the second installment of the sixth-season episode "Dreamland". Likewise, Leitch—who portrayed Samantha as an adult—had acted in the second part of the fifth-season opener "Redux". Milikan and the producers encountered difficulties when casting the boy whom Mulder meets on the beach in his dream. Originally, they cast the child of series producer Paul Rabwin's neighbor, but child labor laws dictated a limit on his daily working hours, so twin boys were cast to allow the scenes to be shot in a single day.
  "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" is the series' last episode to feature Mimi Rogers as Agent Fowley. After reading a copy of the script, Rogers realized that her character was going to die before she reached the ending. The script included a large part for Fowley, which Rogers described as "by far the most [she] had to do in an episode." She later explained, "It occurred to me [while I was reading the script], uh oh, this is way too good. I have too much to do. They're going to kill me."
  Davis was pleased with the episode, and he stated: "For me the episode was terrific to play because they ended up making the Cigarette Smoking Man somewhat tougher. We have seen so much softness in him; it was great to play that tough side." With that said, he described the scene in which he was strapped to an operating table with Mulder as "totally uncomfortable", later joking that "the only upside of that was that the author [Duchovny] was lying right beside me, feeling equally uncomfortable. I wonder if David would have written it that way if he had known what he would have to go through."
  The majority of the episode—like the rest of seasons six, seven, eight and nine—was filmed in Los Angeles, California. The housing community in Mulder's dream was filmed in an "affluent section" between Malibu and Pacific Palisades. The scene in which The Smoking Man opens a window, revealing an apocalyptic alien landscape, used a special set and a matte painting background. Various special effects, such as explosions, were filmed separately, and the pieces were digitally composited to create the final scene. A scene in which Mulder watched himself age was also filmed, but was cut for unknown reasons.
caption: The episode is the last to feature Mimi Rogers.
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