It's not quite official yet, but there seems to be little standing in the way for David Duchovny to make one final appearance on "The X-Files" before the series ends its 9-year run at the end of this season.

Duchovny, who spent more than eight years and one movie playing Special Agent Fox Mulder, will apparently make his final appearance in the two-part finale which is set to shoot in early April, and make its final appearance on May 12 and May 19, according to Zap2it. It's an ending that executive producer Frank Spotnitz has mixed feelings anticipating.

"I don't really think we'll be sad until it's the last day, and we realize that we're not going to see these people we've seen for so long," Spotnitz said. "That doesn't happen often in television, where you work with the same group of people for so many years. But it's scary, slash, exciting, disappointing and the right thing to do all the same time."

"The X-Files" has witnessed a serious ratings decline since the beginning of the ninth season, and Spotnitz said it's hard to pinpoint the exact reason.

"I could give you six different theories, and I don't know which one is it," he said. "Is it because we started in November, and these other shows (who compete with 'The X-Files') had weeks on the air to build an audience? Is it because we were up against 'Saving Private Ryan' (for the ninth season premiere)?' Is it because Sept. 11 changed the zietgeist of the country? Is it because people didn't know we were on because there was so little promotion? Is it because David Duchovny left?'"

And speaking of Duchovny's return ...

"I think it's pretty likely," Spotnitz said. "The irony is, he was going to come back to write and direct an episode before the season got announced."

Spotnitz also said that even if Duchovny did return for the final episode, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be a springboard to the next movie as previous reports suggested.

"Whatever the movie is, it'll be a new beginning," he said. "What we're most concerned about is finishing the series properly. We're not really worried abut whether there's something left over for the movie. In all likelihood, the movie's going to be a stand alone Mulder and Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigation anyway."