Casting The Unnatural (The X-Files)

m. emmet walsh played role of arthur dales after original actor darren mcgavin had stroke.

jesse l. martin first actor considered play part of exley. duchovny had first noticed martin in production of musical rent, , noticed him again during guest appearance on fox legal comedy-drama ally mcbeal. watching latter performance, duchovny decided martin had right feel lead role. duchovny later noted had little involvement casting process since majority of characters in episode recurring.

originally, darren mcgavin set reprise role arthur dales; character had appeared in episodes travelers , agua mala . 2 days after filming began, mcgavin suffered stroke, forcing duchovny , producers remove episode few scenes had shot, rewrite script explain absence, , replace character m. emmet walsh. because many of scenes featuring younger dales had been shot, duchovny forced give walsh s character same name mcgavin s character; justified in episode quirk on behalf of 2 brothers parents. 2 scenes filmed mcgavin included sequence in mulder asks dales whether great baseball players aliens, , scene in mulder asks dales why joined fbi. mcgavin, recovered, later allowed scenes included on sixth season dvd bonus features. executive producer frank spotnitz later called great sorrow show had replace darren mcgavin because series producers huge fans of role in 1972 film night stalker , television series of same name.

actor frederic lane had appeared in travelers, playing younger version of mcgavin s character. since mcgavin written out of episode, lane played younger version of walsh s character. los angeles dodgers radio announcer vin scully, name original inspiration dana scully s name, played baseball announcer in episode. announcer unable appear owing budgetary issues, later agreed record part free. daniel duchovny, david s brother, appeared in episode in minor role bench jockey.