USA TODAY International Edition
Quirky ‘ Twin Peaks’ makes a comeback
Creator remains tight- lipped about the darkness ahead
David Lynch is delighted to transport viewers back to the mesmerizing world of Twin
Peaks. He’s just not going to provide directions or offer guidance once they get there. Lynch, who first brought
Peaks’ quirky, funny, dangerous denizens to life 27 years ago in a TV- transforming ABC drama, isn’t giving much of anything away about his highly anticipated return to the fir- lined Washington hamlet, arriving Sunday with a 2- hour premiere on Showtime ( 9 ET/ PT).
“It’s 18 hours long,” is all the acclaimed director ( Blue Velvet,
Wild at Heart) will say. After Peaks ended its short, dazzling ride, becoming a popcultural phenomenon in its first season but fading in audience in a second and final one, Lynch didn’t think he, let alone fans, would ever go back. But he never forgot FBI Agent Dale Cooper ( Kyle MacLachlan), Audrey Horne ( Sherilyn Fenn) and dozens of other characters whose lives were affected after the body of teenager Laura Palmer ( Sheryl Lee) was discovered in the small logging town. “I would think about Twin
Peaks. I would think about characters, the town and the mood,” he says of a show and experiences he refers to as “a magical thing.” Then, more recently, he and cocreator Mark Frost “started talking, and one thing led to another and we started writing.”
Mädchen Amick, who played waitress Shelly Johnson and is one of many original cast members to return, thought Peaks was done, too, and was shocked when she heard the news.
“It threw the whole world into a tizzy,” she says, leading her to e- mail Lynch for confirmation. “I asked, ‘ Is this a hoax?’ And he said, ‘ Nope. I’ll see you in the beautiful world of Twin Peaks
very soon.’ It gave me shivers.”
She has loved both of her experiences with Peaks, whose original edition helped launch the small- screen creative renaissance of recent years, influencing such critically acclaimed series as The X- Files, The Sopranos and The Leftovers.
“I see Twin Peaks sprinkled everywhere,” says Amick, whose CW drama Riverdale, which reimagines Archie Comics, echoes Peaks’ dark, quirky, small- town environment. “It’s fun to see that a creator, a writer, a director love Twin Peaks.”
Showtime programming president Gary Levine, an ABC executive involved in developing the original series, says Peaks beautifully melded TV conventions with Lynch’s revolutionary vision. “Its bones were the bones of a TV soap opera, but David brought a whole new palette.”
Levine says viewers can come back to Peaks with encyclopedic knowledge of the original, or none at all. Watching the 1990 pilot episode wouldn’t hurt, he says.
Lynch makes no such recommendation: The new series “has to work on its own,” he says.