 The character of Walter Skinner had evolved over the course of The X @-@ Files ' sixth season . At the start of season six , however , the producers and writers felt that Skinner 's character was becoming " expendable " . With their transfer away from the X @-@ Files division , Mulder and Scully saw less and less of their former boss . Originally , John Shiban , the writer of the episode , wanted to infect Mulder with nanobots . However , he decided that since the audience knew Mulder would not be killed , this plot would not be very effective . In order to compensate for this loss , Shiban decided to re @-@ work Skinner back into the series mythology by putting him in Mulder 's place . Shiban , inspired by the 1950 noir film D.O.A. and its 1988 remake which he jokingly called " [ two ] pretty bad movies " , decided to craft an episode of The X @-@ Files around the conceit of " a guy who 's been poisoned [ and ] has only a short time to live and has to use that time to find out why and by whom he 's being murdered " . 
 The character of Walter Skinner <a href='been_done' title='1'><mark>had</mark></a> evolved over the course of The X @-@ Files <a href='null_genetive' title='2'><mark>'</mark></a>sixth season . At the start of season six , however , the producers and writers felt that Skinner <a href='null_genetive' title='3'><mark>'s</mark></a>character was becoming " expendable " . With their transfer away from the X @-@ Files division , Mulder and Scully saw less and less of their former boss . Originally , John Shiban , the writer of the episode , wanted to infect Mulder with nanobots . However , he decided that since the audience knew Mulder would not be killed , this plot would <a href='negative_concord' title='4'><mark>not</mark></a><a href='negative_concord' title='5'><mark>be</mark></a> very effective . In order to compensate for this loss , Shiban decided to re @-@ work Skinner back into the series mythology by putting him in Mulder <a href='null_genetive' title='6'><mark>'s</mark></a>place . Shiban , inspired by the 1950 noir film D.O.A. and its 1988 remake which he jokingly called " [ two ] pretty bad movies " , decided to craft an episode of The X @-@ Files around the conceit of " a guy <a href='null_relcl' title='7'><mark>who</mark></a>'s been poisoned [ and ] <a href='got' title='8'><mark>has</mark></a> only a short time to live and <a href='uninflect' title='9'><mark>has</mark></a> to use that time to find out why and by whom he 's being murdered " . 
The character of Walter Skinner done evolved over the course of The X @-@ Files  sixth season . At the start of season six , however , da producers and writers felt that Skinner  character was becoming " expendable " . wid their transfer away from tdaX @-@ Files division , Mulder and Scully saw less and less of their former boss . Originally , John Shiban , thdariter of the episode , wanted to infect Mulder with nanobots . However , he decided that since thedadience knew Mulder would not be killed , this plot would ain't very effective . In order to compensate for this loss , Shiban decided to re @-@ wrk Skinner back into the daies mythology by putting him in Mulder  place . Shiban , inspired by the 1950 noir film D.O.A. and its 1988 remake which he jokingly called " [ two ] pretty bad movies " , decided to craft an episode of The Xda@ Files around the codait of " a guy 's been poisoned [ and ] got only a short time to live and gotta use that time to find out why and by whom he 's being murdered " .