Var Mulders bortförande planerad från början av serien?

tl dr - Jag tror att du kan betrakta detta delvis korrekt.

I säsong 7 Wikipedia artikel står det:

Before the season aired, David Duchovny filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox. Duchovny was upset because, he claimed, that Fox had undersold the rights to its own affiliates, thereby costing him huge sums of money. Originally, in the contract, Duchovny was eligible for an estimated five percent, but, according to him, he "had seen only a fraction" of the money. Eventually, the lawsuit was settled, and Duchovny was awarded a settlement of about $20 million. The lawsuit put strain on Duchovny's professional relationships. Although his lawsuit never called Chris Carter a defendant, their friendship was notably impacted. One anonymous source noted that "the whole lawsuit thing revealed that Carter knew (Duchovny) was getting screwed and didn't warn him. Carter proved where his loyalties lay with his actions."

Enligt BBC :

Duchovny had only appeared in a handful of episodes of the current series after a legal battle with the network over payment.

OBS: Termen " den aktuella serien " avser säsong 8.

I den här noten på en fanbaserad webbplats anges :

As previously suggested by the actor himself, Fox is currently said to be negotiating with Duchovny to return to the series for far fewer episodes, possible 6-9 for the whole season, in a deal which the trade says will involve "big bucks."

Det verkar som om Duchovny efter rättegången (enligt officiellt pressmeddelande) kommer att fortsätta att agera i olika roller för att komma ur typecast som "killen jagar utomjordingar". På grund av detta gjorde han en överenskommelse med FBC för att få mindre episoder under säsong 8. Genom att lägga till allt detta kan det bara leda en att tro att berättelselinjen härleddes från efterföljan av rättegången och inte ursprungligen skulle ske på så sätt.