"Avatar" is the twenty-first episode of the third season of the science fiction television series "The X-Files". It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on April 26, 1996. The story for the episode was developed by David Duchovny and Howard Gordon, the teleplay was written by Gordon, and it was directed by James Charleston. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Avatar" earned a Nielsen household rating of 9.3, being watched by 14.62 million viewers in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed reviews from television critics.