that Samantha is technically dead, had been for decades. But she is no longer in pain and her soul is in "a better place". Mulder also tells Harold that he saw Harold's son and that he, like Mulder, needed to "let it go." Samantha is mentioned again in the series finale, where Jeffrey Spender testifies at Mulder's trial he and Samantha grew up together at the military base and she died in 1987, and in The X-Files: I Want to Believe, being the inspiration that drives Mulder to try to save a likely-dead agent. Mulder is seen to admit she is dead, but keeps her picture on the wall with newspaper clippings of his own exploits with the FBI and alien evidence. Portrayal history Samantha Mulder was played as a child by Vanessa Morley, and as an adult by Megan Leitch. Several other actors played the part for individual episodes—Brianne Benitz in the first season's "Miracle Man", Ashlynn Rose in the sixth season's "Dreamland II", and Mimi Paley in the seventh season episode "Closure". Reception Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club praised the way Samantha was presented in "Colony", saying that "In the seasons to come, we end up with enough Samantha's to fill a clown-car, but here, the reveal is shocking, effective, and unsettling". David Bell and Lee-Jane Bennion-Nixon described the Samantha's story as a classical conspiracy narrative, and a "long-running, episodic storyline is especially pivotal to the series", a driving force behind the actions of its main character, Fox Mulder. References The X-Files characters Fictional characters from Massachusetts Television characters introduced in 1993 Alien abduction in television