Development of the first episode of the season, "The Blessing Way", began with the second-season finale "Anasazi". Both of those episodes, along with "Paper Clip", form a three part trilogy of episodes that began the third season. "Anasazi" was directed by R. W. Goodwin, who later directed the season finale "Talitha Cumi", and "Paper Clip" was directed by Rob Bowman. Bowman directed a total of eight episodes for the season, followed by Kim Manners who directed seven. Series creator Chris Carter also served as executive producer and showrunner and wrote eight episodes, directing one.