Do we like them?

Do we like Dana Scully?

A character from The X-Files (1993–2018)

Our score: 9 out of 10. Yes. She's smart, brave and honest, and she keeps asking for evidence while the people around her chase wilder theories. We'd follow her into any dark basement.

Scully is a trained physician who joins the FBI. At the start of The X-Files she is assigned to work with Fox Mulder, an agent who believes in the paranormal. Her bosses expect her to use science to debunk his work. The show follows the two of them through monsters, conspiracies and strange cases, and she acts as the sceptic who will not accept a claim without proof.

Her main strengths are her rigor and her courage. She runs autopsies, questions every theory, and then goes into danger anyway, usually with her gun drawn and a dry remark ready. She and Mulder argue constantly, but the show treats her scepticism as a real strength and not as an obstacle. Her faith and her doubts both stay part of who she is.

We give her a 9 because she is consistently principled, loyal and capable. Her flaws are small: she can be stubborn, and she sometimes keeps secrets to protect people. Her influence on viewers is also well documented. A 2018 Geena Davis Institute survey found that most women who knew the character saw her as a role model, though the study has caveats and measured self-reported influence.