FBI. On Christmas morning, Scully receives the results of an RFLP test that she requested from the FBI. The test results prove that Scully, not Melissa, is Emily's mother. Production Writing During the second week of October 1997, David Duchovny was unable to film, as he was busy promoting his film Playing God (1997), so the producers decided to spend this week filming a Scully-centric episode. Given that this episode was slated to air in December of that year, writers Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz initially tried writing a Christmas episode similar to the 1951 film Scrooge, with Dana Scully in place of Alastair Sim's Scrooge. However, the three were unable to develop any more ideas, and so they decided to instead feature Scully being visited by "earlier versions of her family members herself", resulting in the flashback sequences that pepper the episode. Filming The young actress who had originally been cast to play Emily had severe nosocomephobia, which was triggered during the filming of "Emily". Because the actress could not be calmed down, the show's producers were forced to recast the role and reshoot all footage featuring Emily in "Christmas Carol". The show's casting crew eventually replaced her with Lauren Diewold, who had previously appeared on an episode of Millennium. Due to the season's hectic shooting schedule, Anderson's double was used in re-shot scenes. Casting director Corrine Mays had difficulty casting Scully's 1976 self before executive producer Robert Goodwin proposed using Gillian Anderson's fourteen-year-old sister Zoë for the role. Props specialist Ken Hawryliw claimed the biggest challenge in producing the episode was finding Christmas paper from the 1980s for the flashback sequences. After production wrapped, Gillian Anderson was unsatisfied with her acting, stating: "I felt in the end that I was a little low energy, a little too melancholy. It was hard to find the right attitude for Scully in dealing with a child that's apparently hers; to find the right flavor of relationship to her and this disease she's going through, all mixed up with the aspect of the paranormal." Anderson also admitted that another issue she had was that Scully "had no history with" Emily so she was unable to "play the kind of attachment I would feel if my own daughter, Piper, were going through the same thing. Reception "Christmas Carol" premiered on the Fox network on December 7, 1997. This episode earned a