Fox Mulder became a sensation in the 1990s as one of the protagonists of the The X-Files. The X-Files helped define television in the early 1990s. It gave the Fox network one of its early hits and turned David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson into stars overnight. Its labyrinthine meta-plot ultimately got out of hand, but it left an indelible stamp on the medium, as well as spawning a pair of feature films.
Dana Scully clearly draws inspiration from The Silence of the Lambs' heroine Clarice Starling, released two years before The X-Files series premiere. For her partner Fox Mulder, the showrunners dove deeper into pop culture history. Kolchak: The Night Stalker -- which ran for just a single season on ABC from 1974-1975 -- developed a cult following over the years, including The X-Files creator Chris Carter. He cites the series and its titular hero, Carl Kolchak, as Mulder's spiritual predecessor.
