Watch: X-Files Short Gives Some Answers About the New Series

We're less than a month away from the revival of The X-Files on Fox, and the show's producers have given us an unusually thorough look at the creation of the miniseries in advance of its release. A 21-minute-long behind-the-scenes featurette released this week by the network manages to tell us a lot and still give a teasingly incomplete idea of what we can expect from the new series.

In the featurette, stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, creator Chris Carter and some of the series' other key figures give hints and explanations for the direction the new episodes will take. Carter promises a twist on the original series' underlying story, and newcomer Joel McHale promises that his character will play an important role. And, of course, there wikl be relationship tension between Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

Perhaps the most surprising revelation is that the miniseries will follow the original series' formula of stand-alone monster-of-the-week episodes alternating with episodes that advance the overall plot arc. That's something of a surprise given that the miniseries only has six episodes to work with, but it's sure to please those fans who preferred the stand-alone episodes to the conspiracy-laden installments.