Former X Files star Gillian Anderson set to release sci-fi novels

FORMER X Files star Gillian Anderson is set to return to the genre that made her a pop-culture icon back in the 1990s.

BELIEVE: X-Files stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny may return.

FORMER X Files star Gillian Anderson is set to return to the genre that made her a pop-culture icon in the 1990s - but this time in print.

Anderson will release the first in a sci-fi book series titled EarthEnd Saga this October through publishers Simon & Schuster. A collaboration with co-writer Jeff Rovin, the first book in the EarthEnd Saga is titled A Vision of Fire and focuses on Caitlin O'Hara, a child psychiatrist who specialises in treating victims of natural disasters and other traumas.

When O'Hara begins treating a "uniquely troubled girl," she finds that her scientific view of the world is soon challenged by more mysterious forces.

"Over the course of spending time and helping her and investigating the origins of the girl's trauma, Caitlin begins to realise that the girl's behaviour is tied to much greater forces in the universe, and as the story unfolds, she must prevent destruction on a grand scale," Anderson told Entertainment Weekly.

BELIEVE: X-Files stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny may return.

O'Hara harks back to Anderson's most famous role as Special Agent Dana Scully in the era-defining TV hit The X Files. Scully started the series sceptical of all things paranormal and supernatural, but found herself unable to deny the spooky events she experienced with FBI colleague Fox Mulder (David Duchovny).

Anderson said of her time on the program that "after nine years of living in a semi-science-fictional universe, I think I now have an ingrained knowledge and rhythm for it."

The 45-year-old actress has shaken off her reputation as a sci-fi heroine since The X Files finished screening in 2002, starring in everything from British period dramas (Bleak House, Great Expectations) to comedies (A Cock and Bull Story, Johnny English Reborn). Most recently, she's found renewed success in the world of television, playing Detective Stella Gibson in the gritty Northern Ireland crime drama The Fall. The EarthEnd Saga marks her debut as an author.