Millennium After the Millennium Documentary Looks Back at the Chris Carter Series and Suggests a Possible Future for the Show

Millennium After the Millennium is a 2018 documentary looking back at the ’90s Chris Carter series and provides an excellent, in-depth exploration of the show, going back to its origins and then progressing through each of its three seasons and beyond. The documentary is built around interviews with the cast and crew including Chris Carter, Lance Henriksen, Frank Spotnitz, Megan Gallagher, Brittany Tiplady, and more.  Beautifully filmed, the interviews mimic the look and feel of the show so they blend in well with the interspersed clips.  They also reveal how deeply attached many of the cast and crew were to the series. In addition, the interviewees suggest where the series could go if it was given a revival today similar to what The X-Files received a few years back, something that could happen if fans were to lend their support. (The documentary is available for purchase VOD on sites like Amazon and iTunes).

Millennium was the second series that Chris Carter did for FOX after The X-Files, and it ran for three seasons from 1996 to 1999. The show focuses on former FBI profiler Frank Black who has the ability to “see” from the perspective of the killer and who consults with the police on murder investigations. He works for the mysterious Millennium group, an organization that believes forces of evil are coming together and could present a threat to humanity as the turn of the century approaches.

As revealed in the documentary, Chris Carter came up with the idea of the series while working on the X-Files episode “Irresistible” and he wanted the show to focus on human monsters as opposed to the alien and paranormal creatures his other show explored. The first season delivered mostly serial-killer-of-the-week episodes, though it fully utilized the formula to explore the darkness of humanity as well as apocalyptic themes while juxtaposing Frank’s relationship with his family as a beacon of hope.

Starting with the second season, Glen Morgan and James Wong came onboard as showrunners and they explored more of the supernatural themes hinted at in the first season while also taking a deeper look at the Millennium group. That season ended on a very apocalyptic note that suggested it would not return, but FOX did decide to bring the show back for a third year. The tone changed again (Morgan and Wong had departed by that time), and the new season offered a mix of procedural stories along with episodes that continued to delve into the motivations of the Millennium group. Sadly, the show was cancelled at the end of its third year, leaving viewers on a pretty large cliffhanger (and crossover with The X-Files the following season provided little in the way of resolution).

>Keep up with sci fi TV ratings results and status updates as well as breaking news with our Cancellation Watch posts

Not only does Millennium After the Millennium gives an in-depth retrospective of the show, but the documentary also points out how it was ahead of its time. Millennium was very different from the other offerings on television at the time and in many ways acted as the predecessor to darker shows that would follow like The Sopranos, Dexter, and Breaking Bad. It also delivered a very cinematic experience, something we have taken for granted of late with the high production values we see from the streaming originals and other high-profile series, but which was not common at that time.

Producer Troy Foreman told me that he was driven to do the film because he “wanted this documentary to let viewers know that Millennium was just as relevant and important in the television landscape as The X-Files.”  In addition, he commented that “we wanted everyone involved with Millennium to know that their work was appreciated and this documentary is our thank you to them.”

The documentary is a must-watch for Millennium fans (Henriksen’s final comments are classic), and it also offers hope for some sort of resolution to the show’s truncated storyline. Lance Henriksen has long pushed for a return to the show, either as a film or extension of the TV series. And the documentary’s producer Troy Foreman currently heads up Back to Frank Black which has also attempted to revive the series. The cast and crew definitely have a love for the show and would almost certainly support an attempt to bring it back (Henriksen just recently sent out a tweet gauging interest).

I have met with Foreman and the documentary’s director Jason Morris, and we have discussed efforts to generate interest and bolster support for a revival. Foreman said the following about the potential return of the show:

As far as a revival of the series, we’ve known since the early days of the Back to Frank Black campaign that it was a long shot and would be an uphill battle. The X-Files rally cry was Don’t Give Up. Millennium’s rally cry is Keep the Faith. With all that is going on in the world today and the appreciation of darker television series these days, it would be the right time to finish Millennium’s story.

Stay tuned to this site for more info in the coming weeks, and please chime in below in the comments if you would like to lend your support. Millennium was a great show cut short by a network too focused on the bottom line. But with enough support, perhaps we can get this show the conclusion (or maybe continuation) that it deserves.

More from CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the ratings developments and the status of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Weekly Roundup posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and keep up with what is airing/streaming each week with our Weekly Listings.