Darin Morgan

Writing career

Morgan was born in Syracuse, New York and studied in the film program at Loyola Marymount University, where he co-wrote a six-minute short film that led to a three-picture deal with TriStar Pictures. Morgan subsequently wrote a number of unproduced screenplays and appeared in two small guest roles on The Commish and 21 Jump Street, where his brother Glen was a writer.

The X-Files

In 1994, Morgan was cast as the Flukeman, a mutated flukeworm the size of a human being, in "The Host", a second-season episode of The X-Files, where his brother, Glen, worked as a writer and producer. The episode originally aired on September 23, 1994. The role required Morgan to wear a cumbersome rubber suit for twenty hours at a stretch, an experience he described as "terrible, just horrible." Subsequently, he worked with his brother in developing the story for the next episode, "Blood" (aired September 30, 1994), for which he received story credit.

At the suggestion of producer Howard Gordon shortly thereafter, Morgan became a full-time staff writer for The X-Files, where he wrote his first episode, "Humbug" (originally aired on March 31, 1995). A quirky, funny, sometimes gruesome story about a series of murders in a colony of circus freaks, "Humbug" is considered a landmark episode in the history of The X-Files for broadening the dark tone and style of the series into funnier, less predictable directions. It was nominated for a 1996 Edgar Award.

Morgan's next episode, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", originally aired on October 13, 1995. "Clyde Bruckman" remains a favorite of fans and critics alike, and was acclaimed for retaining the humorous spirit of "Humbug" while extending its story into darker, more poignant territory. Both Morgan and actor Peter Boyle, who played the titular depressed psychic Clyde Bruckman, won Emmy Awards for this episode.

Morgan wrote two additional episodes of The X-Files, the absurdist cockroach invasion story "War of the Coprophages" (originally aired on January 5, 1996) and "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" (April 12, 1996), as well as contributing an uncredited rewrite to "Quagmire" (May 3, 1996). He left the show after the third season, but joined the writing staff of Millennium, writing and directing two episodes with layered plots and humorous dialogue: "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" (originally aired on November 21, 1997) and "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" (May 1, 1998).

In addition to his work as a writer, Morgan contributed a guest appearance to the X-Files episode "Small Potatoes" (April 20, 1997), where he played Eddie Van Blundht, a self-described "loser" with the ability to shape-shift. In a March 2015 interview, Chris Carter revealed the return of Morgan and Jim Wong, in roles in the six-episode event series. Morgan wrote and directed the third episode, entitled "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster".

Later work

On August 11, 2004, it was announced that Morgan and screenwriter Sam Hamm were writing an untitled screenplay under development by DreamWorks SKG. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story "concerns a marriage counselor, whose daughter is about to get married, who discovers that his future son-in-law is suffering from the delusion that he's a superhero."

Morgan worked on the second episode of former X-Files producer Frank Spotnitz's Kolchak: The Night Stalker remake, as consulting producer, though the show was canceled before any of Morgan's scripts were produced. The only script that Morgan wrote before the show was canceled was called "The M Word". It concerned a serial killer and a were-lizard, who may or may not be one and the same. It is available as a PDF on the second disc of the show's DVD set. The script was later rewritten for the tenth season of The X-Files as "Mulder And Scully Meet The Were-Monster."

Morgan worked as a consulting producer on the short-lived TV reboot of Bionic Woman (2008) and Fringe (2008). He subsequently joined his brother Glen's productions of Tower Prep (2010) and Intruders (2014) as a supervising producer, writing multiple episodes of each show.