Alex Krycek is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...
in the
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
-
supernatural television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
''
The X-Files
''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...
''. Alex Krycek is played by
Nicholas Lea
Nicholas Lea (born Nicholas Christopher Herbert; June 22, 1962) is a Canadian actor known for his portrayal of Alex Krycek on ''The X-Files'' and of Tom Foss on ''Kyle XY''.
Life and career
Lea was born in New Westminster, British Columbia. He ...
. He is initially introduced in the second season as a partner for
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
Special Agent Fox Mulder
Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterre ...
in the absence of his previous partner,
Dana Scully
Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists in the Fox science-fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anderson. Scully is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Spec ...
. As the show progressed, Krycek grew to become one of the show's primary
antagonists, appearing subsequently in every season until
Season 9
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
. Krycek's machinations frequently pitted him against Mulder, with whom he shared a complicated relationship. He was variously seen as either a
henchman
A henchman (''vernacular:'' "hencher"), is a loyal Employment, employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organization: minions whose val ...
or enemy of the show's primary antagonist,
The Smoking Man
The Cigarette Smoking Man (abbreviated CSM or C-Man; sometimes referred to as Cancer Man or the Smoking Man) is a fictional character and one of the primary antagonists of the American science fiction drama television series ''The X-Files''. He s ...
, changing his allegiance when the situation suited him best.
Character arc
Krycek is a
Russian-American
Russian Americans ( rus, русские американцы, r=russkiye amerikantsy, p= ˈruskʲɪje ɐmʲɪrʲɪˈkant͡sɨ) are Americans of full or partial Russian ancestry. The term can apply to recent Russian immigrants to the United Stat ...
, the son of
Cold War immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
,
who makes his first appearance in the
season two episode "
Sleepless", where as a young
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
Special Agent, he is assigned as a temporary investigation partner to
Fox Mulder
Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterre ...
. Krycek proceeds to work with Mulder and attempts to gain his trust.
It later becomes evident, however, that Krycek is actually an undercover agent working for
the Smoking Man
The Cigarette Smoking Man (abbreviated CSM or C-Man; sometimes referred to as Cancer Man or the Smoking Man) is a fictional character and one of the primary antagonists of the American science fiction drama television series ''The X-Files''. He s ...
.
Krycek plays an important part in several events that are harmful to Mulder and
Dana Scully
Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists in the Fox science-fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anderson. Scully is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Spec ...
: he assists in Scully's abduction, and murders Mulder's father,
William "Bill" Mulder.
Krycek also assaults
Assistant Director Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character portrayed by American actor Mitch Pileggi on ''The X-Files'' and its short-lived spin-off ''The Lone Gunmen'', both broadcast on Fox.
In the science fiction-supernatural ...
and acquires a secret tape from him which reveals a
US government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
coverup regarding alien visits to
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
. After a botched attempt on Scully results in the death of her sister, the Cigarette Smoking Man attempts to kill Krycek with a car bomb, but Krycek escapes.
Krycek is later found to have been selling the secrets from the encrypted MJ files. Under the influence of the
black oil, Krycek returns the tape to the Smoking Man, in return for knowledge of the location of an alien ship. The black oil-controlled Krycek goes to the ship, which has been moved to an abandoned missile silo in North Dakota. The black oil extracts itself from Krycek, leaving him locked indefinitely in the silo with the ship.
Krycek is next found during an FBI raid, and taken into custody by Mulder and Scully. They learn that Krycek was recruited by an extremist militia group on a salvage hunt from the silo in North Dakota, and he informs the agents they must track the source of an extraterrestrial rock, brought to America by a foreign diplomat, to a
gulag
The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. The hunt leads Krycek and Mulder to
Tunguska, where they are held captive until Krycek maneuvers his own release. Mulder attempts his own escape, taking an unconscious Krycek with him. When he awakes, Krycek separates into the woods only to encounter a strange group of Russians, all of whom have missing left arms. The men amputate Krycek's arm as well, to keep him from being used in black oil
experiments
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...
. Eventually, Krycek graduates into a more powerful role within this group. He uses any knowledge he has to gain leverage with the syndicate. He even has had romantic ties to their secretary,
Marita Covarrubias
Marita Covarrubias is a fictional character on the American science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. She was initially introduced as an informant, leaking diplomatic information to FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder to aid his investigatio ...
(who apparently was using Krycek for her own means in assisting Mulder). Due to this double-crossing, Krycek is temporarily held captive by the
Well Manicured Man. Krycek later appears to Mulder as a friendly messenger to tell him that a war has begun, and that Mulder must "resist or serve".
Later in the series, Krycek can be seen switching sides as it suits him, occasionally helping Mulder, the Cigarette Smoking Man and other people. He attempted to blackmail Skinner with infectious
nanotechnology,
but ended up being thrown into a Tunisian prison by the Cigarette Smoking Man.
In the
season seven finale, "
Requiem", Krycek apparently kills the now wheelchair-using Cigarette Smoking Man by pushing him down a flight of stairs.
Later, when Mulder was abducted by aliens and returned in a deathlike state, Krycek attempts to again blackmail Skinner, offering the means to save Mulder's life in exchange for Scully's baby. Skinner refuses, and Krycek has a violent confrontation with
John Doggett
FBI Special Agent John Jay Doggett is a fictional character in the Fox science fiction- supernatural television series ''The X-Files''. With his FBI partners Dana Scully (season 8) and Monica Reyes (season 9), they work on the X-Files togethe ...
before escaping.
In the
season eight finale, "
Existence
Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with reality. In philosophy, it refers to the ontological property of being.
Etymology
The term ''existence'' comes from Old French ''existence'', from Medieval Latin ''existentia/exsistentia' ...
", Krycek is shot dead by Skinner, during an unsuccessful attempt to kill Mulder.
Krycek's ghost briefly showed up to help Mulder escape a military base in the series finale.
Conceptual history
Originally, the role of Krycek was offered to
Callum Keith Rennie
Callum Keith Rennie (born 14 September 1960) is a British-born Canadian actor who started his career in Canadian film and television projects, where his portrayal of Stanley Raymond Kowalski on the television series '' Due South'' was his firs ...
, who rejected it, but later made two guest appearances on the show. Krycek does not appear in the first season, but
Nicholas Lea
Nicholas Lea (born Nicholas Christopher Herbert; June 22, 1962) is a Canadian actor known for his portrayal of Alex Krycek on ''The X-Files'' and of Tom Foss on ''Kyle XY''.
Life and career
Lea was born in New Westminster, British Columbia. He ...
did have a small part in the Monster-of-the-Week episode, "
Gender Bender
A gender bender is a person who dresses up and acts like the opposite sex. Bending expected gender roles may also be called a genderfuck.
Gender bending may be political, stemming from the early identity politics movements of the 1960s and 19 ...
". In the episode, he played a club goer named "Michel". When Lea appeared as Krycek, the producers felt that they could kill him off if the portraying actor didn't do a good enough job.
Krycek, who was initially created by writer
Howard Gordon
Howard Gordon (born March 31, 1961) is an American television writer and producer.
He is well known for his work on the Fox action series '' 24'' alongside the Showtime thriller ''Homeland'', which he co-developed with Alex Gansa and Gideon ...
to temporarily replace Scully as Mulder's partner for three episodes, eventually grew into a character that lasted
eight seasons on the show.
The character appears in 22 episodes between seasons two and nine.
Reception
The X-Files Season 10 (comic book)
in the first part of a five-part story Krycek appears to have returned from the dead in Saudi Arabia, where a store of black oil has been tapped. He helps Mulder escape an attempt on his life.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krycek, Alex
The X-Files characters
Fictional amputees
Fictional special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fictional assassins
Fictional murderers
Fictional Russian people