x-files William B. Davis The Cigarette Smoking Man

When you think about The Cigarette Smoking Man the last thing you probably think about is ‘Game of Thrones’ but William B. Davis makes a fun comparison and shares more details about his character. The man who we just learned is actually Mulder’s father and was part of the huge twist in ‘The X-Files‘ Season 11 premiere has always been a major player for the series and now is shedding some light on his character. In a season which might be the show’s last and filled with hidden messages, we’re eating up anything new we can find out!

The fun thing about Davis’s take on his character is that he keeps “thinking of CSM as Tywin Lannister [from Game of Thrones]. Tywin isn’t a classic villain, but he is a manipulator, a manager, a political observer, a person who is finding the best way to accomplish the goals in a complex situation. I think in that sense they are very similar.”

The Cigarette Smoking Man has always been a draw for fans and even now is resonant with audiences. Davis gives this reason for the popularity of his character:

“Villains always fascinate people. There has been a whole symbolic issue that revolves around the smok- ing, and in the early days it had a metaphoric feel to it. Chris Carter would sometimes say: He is really the devil and the smoke is coming out of Hades. The menace that comes from not saying a whole lot started it off. There is something behind him that we don’t really know that is giving him an enormous power. The smoking has always seemed to me to come from a need to hollow out his inner emotional life: “I have had to shut the door on normal human feel- ings as best I can, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to survive.”

This is very true! When you mix in a villain who is actually accomplishing his goals even when it looks like he is being stopped it is even more interesting. Jokingly he was asked if he could end up as the Vape Man with today’s climate. Don’t expect that to happen even though “nowadays, in the real world, it is almost impossible to smoke. There are hotels that are nonsmoking, and you can’t smoke anywhere in the hotel!” However, if the CSM ended up in a position where he had to deal with smoking in public “Somehow I think he will manage to ignore those rules.”

Do you agree that there is an ample reason to compare both The Cigarette Smoking Man and Tywin Lannister? Would these two be evenly matched if in the same era and had the equivalent resources that they do in their own? Do you agree that the character still delivers the same sense of terror and intrigue that he once did? Share your thoughts below!

Source: Entertainment Weekly