David Lynch Returns to ‘Twin Peaks’ Revival
UPDATE 2: CBS chief Leslie Moonves has confirmed that Showtime’s Twin Peaks series will officially premiere in 2017. Variety reports that he feels the move would encourage interest in Showtime’s recently launched stand-alone service.
UPDATE 1: Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost revealed that new episodes won’t be aired until 2017. Production for the reboot is scheduled to begin in September.
David Lynch is returning to Twin Peaks. Over a month after the director announced he was leaving Showtime’s planned nine-episode Twin Peaks revival due to a dispute over budget, Lynch alerted his Twitter followers that he is back on board with the project that he co-created with Mark Frost. “Dear Twitter Friends, the rumors are not what they seem… It is !!! Happening again,” Lynch tweeted.
Showtime president David Nevins confirmed Lynch’s return in a statement Friday night, The Hollywood Reporter writes. “This damn fine cup of coffee from Mark and David tastes more delicious than ever,” Nevins said. “Totally worth the extra brewing time and the cup is even bigger than we expected. David will direct the whole thing, which will total more than the originally announced nine hours. Preproduction starts now!”
Actor Kyle MacLachlan, who played Special Agent Dale Cooper on the cult series, was overjoyed that Lynch was once again involved. “Ahoy! Best! Day! Ever! and Damn good coffee,” the actor tweeted after learning the Fire Walk With Me director would once again be behind the camera. “But it wasn’t a dream. It was a place. And you and you and you… and you were there… Good to be home. #TwinPeaks.”
The “rumors” Lynch is referring to is the director’s own set of April 5th tweets where he previously announced he was leaving Showtime’s Twin Peaks reprise. “After 1 year and 4 months of negotiations, I left because not enough money was offered to do the script the way I felt it needed to be done,” Lynch said at the time. “This weekend I started to call actors to let them know I would not be directing. Twin Peaks may still be very much alive at Showtime.”
Lynch ended his statement by wishing that “things could have worked out differently,” and thankfully things have. With the new scripts reportedly already written by Frost, it was possible for Showtime to continue on with the project without Lynch’s involvement, but they instead opted to compromise with the filmmaker following a backlash from the fervent Twin Peaks community.
After Lynch revealed he was leaving the Twin Peaks revival, the series’ many cast members – some of whom already inked contracts to revisit the spooky Washington town, including MacLachlan – protested the departure in a quirky video. “Twin Peaks without David Lynch is like a waitress without her uniform,” actress Mädchen Amick, who portrayed waitress Shelly Johnson on the series, says in the video.
The Twin Peaks revival was scheduled to return to television in 2016, but it’s unclear whether the “extra brewing time” has pushed back its arrival.