The eX-Files: Celebrating 30 Years of The X-Files

Join Jenny Owen Youngs, Kristin Russo, and special guest Malinda Lo for their live podcast recording of The eX-Files, covering Season 1, Episode 20 of The X-FIles: “Darkness Falls” in celebration of the iconic television show’s 30th Anniversary!

On The eX-Files, Youngs and Russo—hosts of the critically acclaimed Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast—dig into every episode of the seminal 90s sci-fi, The X-Files, spoiler free, one at a time. The podcast’s namesake—The eX-Files spelled with an “e”—is a credit to the duo’s relationship: in addition to being longtime business partners, Youngs and Russo are also ex-wives.

The duo’s infectious chemistry, coupled with their joyful and empathetic exploration of story, turned their first project—what started as a podcast project between a married couple to explore every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer—into a genuine phenomenon that sold out live shows across the country. Buffering the Vampire Slayer earned a spot on the top of rewatch podcast lists from the The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, Time, and more. But somewhere in the middle of it all, Youngs and Russo got a divorce, and today it’s with those new beginnings—with one foot planted firmly in the past—that Youngs and Russo approach their new podcast rewatch project with a new kind of relationship—one that is, perhaps, even stronger.
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Malinda Lo is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, including most recently A Scatter of Light. Her novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club won the National Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, a Michael L. Printz Honor, and was an LA TimesBook Prize finalist. She also, coincidentally, wrote her masters thesis on the x-files.