Background and development The first season of
Twin Peaks premiered on April 8, 1990, on
ABC. It was one of the
top-rated series of 1990, although its ratings declined in the second season. In subsequent years,
Twin Peaks has often been listed among the greatest television dramas of all time.
Aaron Spelling Productions wanted to continue the series for a third season, but ABC canceled it because of declining ratings and high production costs. A prequel film,
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, was released in 1992, but received negative reviews and a poor commercial performance, leading to the cancellation of the other two films in the series. Lynch and Frost tried to develop a spin-off series centered around
Audrey Horne, but the pilot episode evolved into the unrelated theatrical film
Mulholland Drive. In 2001, Lynch said that
Twin Peaks was as "dead as a doornail". In 2007, artist
Matt Haley began work on a
graphic novel continuation, which he hoped would be included in the "Complete Mystery" DVD box set.
Twin Peaks producer
Robert Engels agreed to help write it on the condition that Lynch and Frost approved the project; Haley said: "[Engels] and I had a number of discussions about what the story would be. I was keen to use whatever notes they had for the proposed third season. I really wanted this to be a literal 'third season' of the show." Paramount Home Entertainment agreed to package it with the box set, also on the condition that Lynch and Frost approved. Though Frost approved the project, Lynch vetoed it, saying that he respected the effort but did not want to continue the story of
Twin Peaks. In or around 2012, Lynch and Frost met at
Musso & Frank Grill in Los Angeles to discuss a potential third season. They did so in part because, in the
final episode of season two, Laura tells Cooper that she will see him in 25 years, and "the show's baked-in time jump was approaching". Lynch's then-wife Emily Stofle recalled that, starting in 2012, the two men began secretly meeting in Lynch's home studio to write the script, which "went on for many years"; as their ideas developed, they shifted to writing the script over
Skype. Lynch and Frost also privately reached out to
Kyle MacLachlan in 2012 to make sure he would be interested in the project. Lynch and Frost did not write a traditional script with clear divisions between episodes. Instead, they wrote a 500-page plot document. They completed the "script" in January 2015, and asked Showtime executives to review it over the weekend. Due to the project's secrecy, Frost and
Jennifer Lynch both publicly denied rumors that the show would return. On the other hand,
Ray Wise said Lynch told him that a third season was possible, and that he might even be able to "work around" the death of Wise's character, Leland Palmer. In September 2014, shortly before Season 3 was announced, Lynch said the future of
Twin Peaks was a "tricky question" and "you just have to wait and see".
Announcement and budget negotiations On October 6, 2014,
Showtime announced that it would air a nine-episode
miniseries written by Lynch and Frost and directed by Lynch. Frost emphasized that the new episodes would be a continuation of the series, not a
remake or
reboot. The episodes were to be set in the present day, and the passage of 25 years would be an important element in the plot. In mid-2015, Lynch and Showtime began locking horns over the show's budget. In a 2018 book co-authored by Lynch,
Kristine McKenna wrote that Showtime (which was budgeting for the show on a per-episode basis) was concerned that Lynch did not like the original nine-episode plan, but would not tell Showtime how many episodes he needed to tell the story. Days later, a video was released in which several
Twin Peaks cast members, including
Sheryl Lee,
Dana Ashbrook, and
Sherilyn Fenn, urged that Lynch be kept on board for the revival. The dispute was resolved in May; Showtime's
David Nevins said that he compromised with Lynch by giving him a fixed budget for the entire season with no constraints on the episode count. but Nevins maintained that the episode count was "open-ended" and that "we'll have [Lynch] cut [the footage] into however many episodes it feels best at". After the show aired, Lynch thanked Nevins for "ma[king]
Twin Peaks: The Return happen", saying, "maybe somebody else wouldn't have done that".
Casting On January 12, 2015, Kyle MacLachlan was confirmed to return to the series. In October 2015, it was confirmed that
Michael Ontkean, who portrayed Sheriff
Harry S. Truman and had since retired from acting, would not return for the revival, and that the role of town sheriff would be filled by
Robert Forster, later confirmed as playing Frank Truman, brother of Harry. Forster had been cast as Harry in the 1990 pilot but was replaced by Ontkean due to scheduling issues. Also in October,
David Duchovny teased his return as Agent Denise Bryson. In November 2015, it was reported that
Miguel Ferrer would reprise his role as Albert Rosenfield, and that
Richard Beymer and
David Patrick Kelly would return as Benjamin Horne and Jerry Horne, respectively. In December 2015,
Alicia Witt confirmed she would reprise her role as Gersten Hayward.
Michael J. Anderson was asked to reprise his role as
The Man from Another Place, but declined.
Russ Tamblyn underwent open-heart surgery in late 2014, and was still recovering in 2015. Lynch and Frost still hoped Tamblyn would join the cast for the new season, which was later confirmed. On September 28, 2015,
Catherine E. Coulson, who reprised her role of the
Log Lady in the new season, died of cancer. She filmed her final scene four days before her death. The season's first teaser trailer, released in December 2015, confirmed the involvement of
Michael Horse (Tommy "Hawk" Hill). In January 2016, it was reported that
Sherilyn Fenn would reprise her role as
Audrey Horne in a "major presence". In February 2016, it was reported that Lynch would reprise his role as Gordon Cole. Frequent Lynch collaborator
Laura Dern was cast in a "top-secret pivotal role", which eventually proved to be Diane, the previously
unseen character to whom Cooper frequently dictated taped messages during the show's original run. In April 2016, a complete cast list was released, featuring 217 actors, with actors returning from the earlier series marked with asterisks. Mary Reber, who plays Alice Tremond in the finale, is the actual owner of the house used for the Palmer residence.
David Bowie was asked to make a
cameo appearance as FBI Agent
Phillip Jeffries, his character from
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. As Bowie's health was declining, his lawyer told Lynch that he was unavailable. Before
his death in January 2016, Bowie gave the production permission to reuse old footage featuring him, but he was unhappy with the accent he had used in the film, and requested that he be dubbed over by an authentic
Louisiana actor, leading to the casting of Nathan Frizzell as Jeffries's voice. In January and February 2017, respectively, cast members
Miguel Ferrer and
Warren Frost died, but both appear in the new season. This was Ferrer's last live action television role before his death.
Harry Dean Stanton, who reprised his role as Carl Rodd, died in September 2017, less than two weeks after the last episode of the season aired.
Filming Principal photography began in September 2015 and took 140 days. Filming was completed by April 2016. In July 2015, Frost suggested that the season would premiere in 2017 rather than 2016, as originally planned. In January 2016, Nevins confirmed that the season would premiere in the first half of 2017.
Music The season's
score contains new and reused compositions by
Angelo Badalamenti, dark
ambient music and
sound design by
Dean Hurley and David Lynch (including some from
The Air Is on Fire), and unreleased music from Lynch and Badalamenti's 1990s project
Thought Gang, two of which previously appeared in
Fire Walk with Me. Hurley's contributions were released on the album
Anthology Resource Vol. 1: △△ on August 6, 2017, by
Sacred Bones Records. Several tracks from
Johnny Jewel's album
Windswept also appear throughout.
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima by
Krzysztof Penderecki appears in key scenes. Angelo Badalamenti's score was released on September 8, 2017, by
Rhino Records as
Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series Original Soundtrack. Additionally, multiple episodes contain musical performances at the
Roadhouse. Lynch hand-picked several of the bands and musicians, including
Nine Inch Nails,
Sharon Van Etten,
Chromatics and
Eddie Vedder. The final musical performance at the Roadhouse was by
Julee Cruise, who sang the original series's theme.
Twin Peaks: Music from the Limited Event Series, an album containing many of these performances, along with other songs heard on the season, was released by
Rhino Records on September 8, 2017. ==Cast==