The X-Files' season 11 finale seemed to kill off the Cigarette Smoking Man for good - but past evidence suggests it won't be that simple. Most long-running dramas, especially of the horror and sci-fi varieties, tend to have a "big bad," an overarching villain who always seems to be lurking somewhere on the edges even when they're not at the center of the story. For The X-Files, that was CSM, AKA Carl Gerhard Busch Spender, former high-ranking member of The Syndicate and a man with seemingly limitless reach.
Usually puffing away on one of his signature Morley-brand cigarettes, CSM made Mulder and Scully's lives highly dangerous over the course of The X-Files, always standing in between them and the truth they sought. One wonders if the Cigarette Smoking Man would've just killed them off had it not been revealed he was Mulder's biological father, as well as the eventual father of Scully's baby William, the result of a genetic experiment mixing human and alien DNA.
While the Cigarette Smoking Man, played by William B. Davis, is a character X-Files fans love to hate, they also want to see him finally get his comeuppance. That looked to be the case after Mulder shot him multiple times at the waterfront at the end of season 11, then pushed his father into a nearby river. However, it's hard to imagine CSM staying gone for good.
Why The X-Files' Cigarette Smoking Man Probably Won't Stay Dead
While the Cigarette Smoking Man's most recent X-Files death seemed to be inescapable on the surface, it's important to remember just who CGB Spender is. He's the slipperiest, slimiest bad guy on a show filled with untrustworthy characters has allies all over the world and a contingency plan for how to survive just about any situation. Cigarette Smoking Man is also very egocentric and believes himself to be an essential part of what makes society tick. He also really, really doesn't want to die, as seen by the lengths he's gone to over the years to try and avoid meeting his maker.
With all that in mind, it would almost be anti-climactic for a few gunshots to finally be the Cigarette Smoking Man's X-Files undoing. That's especially true after CSM managed to return from two prior "deaths," one at the hands of Alex Krycek and Marita Covarrubias in season 7, and later when black helicopters blew up the Anasazi cliff dwelling he was inside of at the time, an act meant to kill Mulder at the end of season 9. Both times Cigarette Smoking Man came back mostly unfazed, even emerging after the missile strike with only some facial injuries. This is not a man easily killed, despite how doomed he may appear.
Some may wonder why exactly the Cigarette Smoking Man is so resistant to death, and there may be a reason beyond sheer plot armor. As revealed over the course of The X-Files, CSM has had access to both advanced alien technology and samples of alien DNA for decades, as well as the ability to call on the brightest minds when it came to genetics and biology. It's quite possible the CSM at some point underwent a procedure to give him a kind of healing factor, perhaps one that would enable him to be found in the river a bit after he was shot, recovered, and restored to health. Either way, Mulder and Scully shouldn't bet on him being out of their lives.