If #Kolchak inexplicably trends on Twitter Monday night, blame “The X-Files.”
The latest episode finds FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) interrogating a person of interest, Guy Mann (Rhys Darby), as they hunt for a reptilian “were-monster.” Mann’s quirky attire — straw hat, seersucker jacket and cheap knit tie — bears a striking resemblance to clothing worn by Carl Kolchak, the rumpled creature tracker played by the late Darren McGavin in the 1970s ABC series “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.”
The homage to McGavin’s vampire- and werewolf-hunter is intentional.
“’Night Stalker’ and ‘X-Files’ have always been intertwined,” says longtime series writer Darin Morgan, who wrote and directed the episode. He says creator Chris Carter calls it a “huge influence.”
“I just thought it would be funny to have the guy dressed as Kolchak because he was basically the inspiration for Fox Mulder,” says Morgan. He adds that McGavin — who died at age 83 in 2006 — played an alien-hunting FBI predecessor to Mulder in two episodes of the original “X-Files” series.
The look isn’t an exact mirror image. Morgan says while the hat “really suited” Darby, Kolchak originally wore white shoes, which were “toned down” because they bordered on comical.
“I know how silly that sounds. I’ve got a ‘were-lizard’ in the episode — and you can’t get too cartoony?” he says.
Of course, not everyone will be familiar with the decades-old Kolchak series, but Morgan thinks that won’t matter. “It’s kind of bonus material if they pick up on it,” he says.
Regardless of whether everyone gets the visual humor, millennials and Brooklyn hipsters may still appreciate the dated Kolchak couture.
“If we’d done the episode five years ago, his hat would have looked really out of place,” says Morgan, adding with a laugh, “But I think now those hats are back in style.”
“The X-Files” airs at 8 p.m. Monday on Fox.