Who’s got hankering for cherry pie? This morning the swell news arrived that Showtime has ordered a 9-episode Twin Peaks miniseries from creators David Lynch and Mark Frost, with Lynch poised to direct every episode for a 2016 debut— 25 years after the original show ended. Obviously there are many questions to be answered about this continuation, and Frost took part in a number of interviews this morning to shed some light on what fans can expect from the new Twin Peaks. After the jump, see what Frost had to say about how this whole thing came together, which returning characters we’ll see, if any open-ended questions from the original show will be answered, what he has to say about the season two ending, and more.
And if you happen to never have seen Twin Peaks, I'd like to direct you to Netflix where the first two seasons are currently available to stream.
Speaking with TV Line, Frost said this revival has been in the works for about three years now:
“David and I stayed in touch and remained closed friends throughout all these years. It was about three years ago this summer we were having lunch at [famed Hollywood eatery] Musso & Frank, where we often used to go. And we were just kicking stuff around and we started getting some ideas in our heads about Twin Peaks. Suddenly, it felt like a place we wanted to visit again. And that was the kickoff.”
When asked if he sees these new episodes as “Season 3” of Twin Peaks, Frost said:
“Not really, but just because my brain doesn’t work that way. I’ve always said that Twin Peaks to me was like a novel we filmed every page of. So this is more like we found another volume of the saga, and now we want to bring that to life too.”
While cast deals likely haven’t begun to materialize just yet, Frost told Deadline that fans can expect a number of familiar faces:
“I think the fans would like to see and we would like to see as many of the old familiar faces as possible and a lot of new faces as well. We are going to keep that in mind as we start to work and hopefully everybody’s story will get some attention.”
With regards to learning from past mistakes (ie. some of Season 2), Frost told HitFix this new Twin Peaks limited series will have a very strong central narrative:
“I think what we've learned is you've gotta have a very strong central path through the woods. It's fine to have tributaries and streams, and little byways, but ultimately, that path through the woods has to be very dark, clear and dangerous. That's the path we're going to keep to. There'll be, I hope, a healthy percentage of delightful sidelines or paths off to the side, but there aren't any shortcuts. You've gotta follow that main path.”
In speaking with HitFix, Frost also addressed the cliffhanger ending of the season two finale:
"At the time, we were doing whatever we could to get ABC to say yes to a third season. That was very much part of our thinking. It turned out to be a pretty good stopping place, if it had never gone anywhere else, it had at least had an exclamation point at the end of it. Now we have a chance to write the next sentence."
Finally, Frost told Deadline that fans seeking answers to some of the questions from the original series may find some satisfaction in the miniseries:
“I think there will be a lot of things that people have wanted to know over the years that if they pay close attention, they are going to be satisfied.”
While 2016 is still a long ways off, I’m mighty excited to return to the world of Twin Peaks—especially with Lynch and Frost leading the way.
