The actor, who hosts the new History channel series 'Secrets Declassified', enjoys “the true, stranger-than-fiction” government cases the show tackles.
The 10-episode History channel series premiered on Friday, April 4, and reveals the latest evidence behind some of the government’s most secretive and surprising activities that have been declassified throughout history.
“I'm interested in the true, stranger-than-fiction aspect,” Duchovny, 64, tells PEOPLE. “It just seems like such an inexhaustibly interesting trove of things that the government has done or hidden."
"It's not a knock on the government to say that they hide things," he adds. "They have to hide things from time to time, right? But what I love about these stories is, often, the intentions are really good, but the way in which they're trying to achieve their objectives, they range from horrifying to ridiculous.”
The first episode goes inside Area 51, the highly classified United States military installation within the Nevada Test and Training Range. Many Americans have suggested that otherworldly occurrences take place at the facility and some believe that the government keeps an alien spacecraft and the bodies of its crew on the grounds.
“We're living in a time when people are trying to figure out conspiracies,” Duchovny says. “I know that I'm kind of part of that history because of The X-Files, but it's not actually one of my beliefs. I usually believe that there aren't grand conspiracies. There are bad actors and there are bad plans, but a conspiracy to hide the existence of extraterrestrials and stuff like that? I find it very hard for two people to keep a secret, let alone millions of people keeping a secret worth thousands.”
The actor adds: “It's a simplification of the world to believe in conspiracies.” And he shuts it down pretty quickly when X-Files fans try to get into it with him over their favorite conspiracy theories.
“If somebody starts to invest a yarn in me like that, I can tell, so I'll get myself out of the situation,” Duchovny says. “But I do remember, probably about 10 years ago, I think we were doing some convention for the reboot or something. We were down in San Diego, and a lot of people were asking me what I thought of lizards, and I was like, ‘Lizards? I'm fine with lizards.’ But I didn't know there was this whole conspiracy about the lizard people. I didn't know that's what we were talking about."
The father of two refers to The X-Files, in which he played conspiracy theorist Fox Mulder for 11 seasons, as “one of those once in generation TV shows,” although he “can't really explain” its popularity. “But it struck a nerve that it seems to still strike, for some reason,” Duchovny says.
Aside from acting, Duchovny is also a musician and writer, and he'll release a new album and a poetry book later this year. And that brings him to another concept that he also can’t quite wrap his head around. “I don't know how to do downtime,” the Californication star says. “What is downtime? That's a conspiracy to me. It doesn't really exist.”
He prefers diving into a music documentary rather than immersing himself in internet theories. “I don't go on social media, but I will always be interested in watching things about songs that I love, musicians that I respect and hearing about the creation of certain songs, certain albums, stuff like that,” he says, naming Questlove’s Sly and the Family Stone doc Sly Lives! as one he recently enjoyed. “I can go down a rabbit hole like that.”
Still, Duchovny admits he's “anxious and interested” when it comes to seeing which documents the government declassifies next for future seasons of Declassified.
“It seems like kind of an inexhaustible source for the series in a way,” he adds. “People don't let the truth get in the way of good story. That's the old adage. They'll continue to believe in conspiracies, just because they're more fun.”
Secrets Declassified with David Duchovny premiered Friday, April 4, at 10 p.m. ET on the History channel.
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