David Duchovny uncovers hidden history with Secrets Declassified
The term “conspiracy theory” tends to be associated with the deluded rantings of some disturbed loner sporting headgear fashioned from aluminum foil, yet when you boil it down, theories about conspiracies — something undertaken covertly by a group of people, particularly when they’re unlawful and harmful — aren’t always wrong. Take the Epstein files. While there’s much to be discovered as to what exactly Jeffrey Epstein was up to, it’s become clear he had a powerful group of politicians, prosecutors and assorted billionaires in his pocket to cover up his crimes — quite literally the definition of a conspiracy. As The X-Files used to proclaim, the truth is out there, and few people know that better than the guy who played FBI agent Fox Mulder on the conspiracy-driven TV hit.
David Duchovny dips back into that world for Secrets Declassified With David Duchovny, a History Channel series that “pulls the curtain back on the covert government experiments, missions, gadgets and more that have been buried deep in the shadows until now. From black ops and extreme experiments to bizarre weapons and top-secret sites, world governments and those who work for them have done questionable things in the name of national interest,” per the logline.
As Duchovny points out, The X-Files “is a work of fiction, or science fiction, whatever you want to call it . . . this is more like documentary, more like nonfiction reporting than it is fictionalization.”
In Secrets Declassified, Duchovny guides viewers through recently declassified files that remained top-secret for decades, revealing the hidden truth behind real-life government shenanigans that were kept well under wraps at the time. Sometimes these revelations are ridiculous — such as an episode revealing a hilarious military attempt at outfitting bats with tiny weaponry — but they can also be chilling. “And it’s hard to, like, figure out the tone, because some of it’s laughable, but then you step back and you go, well, this could have really impacted a lot of people in a negative way . . . sometimes, you know, you’ll be reading something and talking about something that can be funny, and it seems very silly, but then you step back and you go, well, that could have world historical importance, so maybe laughter is not the response — but maybe it is. I don’t know. It’s tough, and it’s interesting that way.”
Beyond playing a conspiracy-obsessed FBI agent for all those years, the actor has long had an innate curiosity about the exposure of these long-hidden secrets. “The series, it was really something that was brought to my attention as, you know, the bare fact that files do become declassified after a certain amount of time has always been kind of interesting to me, in the sense of the truth will eventually come out,” he says. “And to me, that’s a very interesting field of inquiry . . . these are not fictional events, these are real events that have been classified for a long time, 50 years, so a fascinating bit of history to me.”
Delving into the world of real-life cover-ups has given him a different perspective than he had when dramatizing fictionalized ones on The X-Files, particularly when approached by fans seeking his take. “I can have a very different reaction now, because I used to just say, and still do, you know, that we made all that s*** up,” says Duchovny. “You know, The X-Files is fiction, and this is quite the opposite. None of this is made up. These are declassified documents, so it’s much easier for me to have a fan interaction now, because they never used to believe me when I say it was made up.”
That said, some of what he’s learned through the course of hosting Secrets Declassified has actually bolstered some of those fictional X-Files storylines, such as “all the governmental and CIA investigations, like MKUltra, into mind control and drug use and things like that. That’s very interesting to me, going back to, you know, the late ’60s to the present day, you know, mind expansion, mind altering, mind control, things like that. I find that fascinating,” he says. “It’s almost like somebody wrote these stories, and yet they have the advantage of being real.”
After becoming immersed in declassified government documents and long-buried secrets, what has he taken away from Secrets Declassified? “You know, just the fact that we haven’t blown ourselves up. That’s pretty hopeful when you realize how many times we’ve gotten close to it,” he observes. “I don’t know about AI, you know, that’s like the next big weapon, I suppose. But I’m hopeful that we’re able to approach our growing technological abilities with a sense of humility and morality.”
Secrets Declassified With David Duchovny airs Fridays on The History Channel