The cloak and dagger operation over the title of the next X-Files movie is over.

After months of refusing to reveal the name of the film, shot this spring in Vancouver, creator Chris Carter revealed Tuesday it will be called The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

David Duchovny, left, and Gillian Anderson reprise their roles as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in the film The X-Files: I want to Believe, the second film based on the hit TV series.
(Fox/Diyah Pera/Associated Press)

"I Want to Believe" is a slogan on a poster in the basement office of Fox Mulder, one of the two lead characters in the original TV series, which was cancelled six years ago.

Original cast members David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are reprising their roles as FBI agents chasing the supernatural in the movie, the second X-Files spinoff film.

Carter, who directed and co-wrote X-Files: I Want to Believe, is promising the film will be true to the spirit of the TV show.

"The reason we're even making the movie is for the rabid fans, so we don't want to insult them by having to take them back through the concept again," Carter said.

Film aimed at hard-core fans, younger generation

He also hopes to recruit a new generation of X-Files lovers, who may not have seen the original series.

"It has struck me over the last several years talking to college-age kids that a lot of them really don't know the show or haven't seen it," Carter said.

"If you're 20 years old now, the show started when you were four. It was probably too scary for you or your parents wouldn't let you watch it. So there's a whole new audience that might have liked the show."

In the movie, Duchovny and Anderson play slightly older agents dealing with a terrestrial conspiracy, rather than anything involving aliens.

Mulder continues his unshakable quest for the truth, and his relationship with Scully (Anderson) remains as conflicted as ever.

Carter is remaining close-lipped about the story, though the film is scheduled for release July 25.

"It's a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science. I Want to Believe — it really does suggest Mulder's struggle with his faith," he said.