Is Twin Peaks’ Return in Doubt?
The site ‘welcometotwinpeaks.com’ has broken news that David Lynch has stated that the return of Twin Peaks was now in doubt due to ‘contract negotiations’. The cult hit series that revolved around the death of Laura Palmer and later the return of serial killer Windham Earle ended after ratings for its full 26 episode second season drastically dropped after the reveal of Laura’s killer.
Lynch returned to the problem plagued series at the begging of Catherine Coulson (who portrayed the enigmatic ‘Log Lady’ in the series) and essentially threw out the latter half of the season 2 finale, and returned the main character to the infamous Red Room (or Black lodge) where a cliffhanger left his character trapped.
Now, 25 years later as he was foretold in a dream by Laura Palmer, Cooper and the town were set to return much to the delight of the fans of the once-hit-now-cult series.
But Lynch said on March 14th: “I don’t know. There are complications.”. But Wait! Don’t drop the coffee cup yet!
This quote has not been very easily verified. And his full answer to the question “What is it like to return to Twin Peaks after 25 years?” was captured on camera and was thus:
“I haven’t returned yet and we’re still working on the contract, but I love the world of Twin Peaks and I love those characters. And I think it will be very special to go back into that world”
(via “welcometotwinpeaks.com”)
The site reports that the show’s ‘co-creator and director’ (No name given, presumably Mark Frost) was said to have told people that over the course FOUR YEARS the scripts were complete and that this was not a funding issue but rather that other ‘complications’ had arisen.
Here’s the thing: David Lynch is notoriously unreliable and often deliberately cryptic. He also vacillates wildly on these sorts of issues, so I wouldn’t lend too much credence to the numerous articles online wildly hand-wringing. Remember, this is a man who swore he would never return to television and that Twin Peaks was done (From the book ‘Lynch’). And while that is admittedly from a long time ago and the face of TV has changed, he himself has admitted he’ll often make changes at the last minute. It’s entirely possible Showtime (The network to which Twin Peaks is slated to return) is just uncomfortable with some of Lynch’s story decisions.
Many fans were disappointed with the prequel/sorta-sequel ‘Fire Walk With Me’ as it had a much more brooding and dark atmosphere in the series. So it could be the network is just not getting what they expected – but guess what? IT’S DAVID FUCKING LYNCH. THAT’S THE POINT.
I’m fairly confident Showtime will acquiesce and frankly when this idea was pitched to them they should just have handed Lynch a pile of money and let him do what wanted. Literally, a pile of money. Maybe in an empty coffin or in a giant human ear model. Whatever, something that would be apropos for him. As for Twin Peaks returning? I remain optimistic. Because that’s what Dale Cooper what. And because Laura Palmer made us a promise.