It’s been nearly a quarter of a century since audiences saw Agent Dale Cooper last sipped his “damn fine coffee” as he investigated the mysterious death of Laura Palmer, The Black Lodge, The Log Lady, whatever the hell BOB was controlling and all the other strange disturbances in the small mountain town of Twin Peaks, Washington. Many thought we would never eat that sweet pie or see a little person talk backwards again. But, much like that gum you like, the town and all it’s David Lynchian glory is going to come back in style!
Variety recently announced that Twin Peaks creators David Lynch and Mark Frost will be reviving their twisted yet beloved ABC TV series as a nine episode season on Showtime in 2016. Lynch and Frost will write all the episodes and Lynch himself will direct all nine episodes. The new series will not be a reboot of the original, instead continuing twenty five years after the series finale aired in 1991. No news has surfaced as to whether original series stars will return, nor if series will be shot in Washington as the 90s series was or if the show will go on longer than its nine scheduled episodes. Showtime announced the series’ return via YouTube, which you can view below:
Let’s all take a quick step back and fully realize that this is happening. Twin Peaks, a show so weird, so disturbing and so unique that it’s still a wonder how it was ever produced for ABC in the early 90s, is returning to television after over two decades. Admittingly, if it was going to happen anywhere, it would be on a premium cable network like HBO or Showtime. Still, it’s a bit bizarre to see a show that hasn’t been on the air since before I was alive coming back to any form of media since the prequel film Fire Walk With Me came to theaters in 1992. Yet, it’s really managed to cultivate a following in the years since it’s cancellation. People like myself and those even younger have discovered the show through online platforms like Netflix and have become a part of the weirdly thriving fan base that lingers like a little person in a room mostly made of curtains and office furniture.
Of course, the show had its fans back in the day. During it’s first season, people around the globe were on the edge of their seats to find out what happened to Laura Palmer and how Dale Cooper would manage to find the answer among the surreal horror of the small town. Much of that engagement was lost during the second season after executives forced Lynch and Frost to reveal the identity of Laura Palmer’s killer, resulting in some very odd yet ultimately uninteresting stories involving Civil War generals, elaborate literal chess game related killings and beauty pageants before smacking us in the face (in the right way) with one hell of an out there series finale that left people wanting to know more about the now crazed and possessed Agent Dale Cooper.
Speaking of which, it’ll be curious to see how casting will go. The star and heart of the series Kyle MacLachlan was last involved in the series through a very small part in Fire Walk With Me, due to a desire to move on to other projects. Mind you, this was over twenty years ago and given his ability to be game enough for the weirdness of shows like Portlandia and How I Met Your Mother in recent years, it may be more likely than not that Agent Dale Cooper will pop up again in some form for more Twin Peaks action. There’s also the questions like whether some of the show’s other regulars (Lara Flynn Boyle, Richard Beymer, Sheryl Lee, Sherilyn Fenn, Ray Wise, etc) will be participating, how the deaths of other regulars (Jack Nance, Frank Silva) will be explained and what we can expect to have answered, given that David Lynch has a tendency to… let’s say “confuse” his audiences.
In any case, it’ll be interesting to see not only Twin Peaks return to our small screens, but also see David Lynch himself come back to the director’s chair for the first time since his last film Inland Empire in 2006. A ten year gap of seeing Lynch mainly stick to commercials, his “music” career and his Twitter feed has prepared all his fans (including myself) for something more substantial. The reason Twin Peaks worked as well as it did was because it managed to strike the perfect balance between the surreal & the melodramatic, all while still being genuinely engrossing through it’s winding mystery story, eclectic cast of characters and a sense of style that only Lynch could really pull off. So, no matter what happens, I’ll be sipping the coffee and eating the pie with the rest of them come 2016, which means only one thing…
Via Variety