Much like a small town suffering from the brutal murder of the high school prom queen, fans of the early 90s cult show “Twin Peaks” are also suffering from the cruel twist of fate that has lead showrunner and co-creator David Lynch to walk away from the much anticipated resurrection of the series on Showtime, set for 2016.
Lynch had stated last month that he was not sure if he was returning to the show, which came as a surprise to many since he, co-creator Mark Frost and Showtime had announced the show’s return with Lynch signed on to direct all nine episodes. He co-wrote the scripts with Frost as well.
They even released a teaser for the upcoming third season via YouTube.
Showtime responded to the news, seemingly as taken aback as the fans where:
“We were saddened to read David Lynch’s statement today since we believed we were working towards solutions with David and his reps on the few remaining deal points. SHOWTIME also loves the world of Twin Peaks and we continue to hold out hope that we can bring it back in all its glory with both of its extraordinary creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, at its helm.” The network wrote. So it seems Lynch jumping ship was a little surprising from their end.
So it is no surprise as to why the fans are now pretty baffled. It seemed everything was set, and they even got Kyle MacLachlan signed on to reprise his character, Special Agent Dale Cooper. The question raised now is: Why announce the return when not everything was set in stone to the point where Lynch would not simply leave the project on a production cost issue?
For fans of the show, it has never been easy. Back during its initial run, after being strong armed by ABC to reveal the identity of who killed Laura Palmer, Lynch and Frost walked away from the show. That was a particularly dark time for the series, as it had no real plot besides the horrid James and Evelyn plot — which most sane people tend to just skip over and get to the Windom Earle plotline thanks to the invention of DVD and Blu-Ray. When Lynch was brought back, he ended the second season (and series) on a cliffhanger to renew interest in the show. That cliffhanger has haunted many a fan now for 25 years.
In the early 2000s, the first season was released on DVD — minus the pilot, which left many newbies kind of baffled as to why the set began with episode 2. When season two was finally released around 2006, the first season at that point had become a collectors item, and was not available. Then they released the Gold Box in 2007, which was amazing, but there wasn’t a remastered version of the prequel/sequel film to be found. Then last year they released the Blu-Ray set with both seasons and the film, plus a ton of extras — which is about as great as it can get. But then they dangled that promise of a third season soon after.
And now we have the potential of season three directed by Lynch ripped from our hands. It is a really disappointing moment for fans. If the scripts are, indeed, finished, they could just go ahead and film them without Lynch (he only directed a few of the original series anyway — granted, those were the best episodes of the run). Hopefully, all the parties involved can come up with an agreement and we can finally go back to “Twin Peaks.”
The JOE-DOWN 