By Jeff Pfeiffer
When David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks debuted on ABC in 1990, it was unlike anything people had seen on TV before — certainly on broadcast television.
It brought the surreal sensibilities of Lynch’s film works to the small screen. Ostensibly, the show was about the investigation into the murder of young Laura Palmer in the small Washington town of Twin Peaks, but ultimately, Lynch seemed to be going after atmosphere, not necessarily story.
And he succeeded wildly on that front. The eerie visuals, Angelo Badalamenti’s moody musical score and the collection of offbeat characters helped Twin Peaks gain a cult audience almost immediately — a following the creators hope to rekindle and grow some 25 years later with their revival of Twin Peaks, debuting Sunday, May 21 on Showtime.
Kyle MacLachlan, who reprises his iconic role as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, tells us he has long thought about how exciting it would be to revisit the series, and considers this retelling to be “its own unique thing, for sure” and not necessarily a third season of the original show.
MacLachlan also credits the passionate Peaks fans for keeping the idea of a series return possible. When it comes to whether the patient original fans will be rewarded with any notable call-outs to the original show, MacLachlan is tight-lipped. “They’ve sworn me to absolute secrecy,” he laughs. “I wish I could tell you more.
“There’s definitely things for the fans, for sure,” MacLachlan teases. “But as you can imagine, the story, being 25 years later, is going to be different.”
And how different was it for MacLachlan coming to the set after 25 years, in the clothes and mindset of Dale Cooper?
“It actually started that first day,” he recalls, “seeing some of the characters and people that I hadn’t seen in a long time, in our trailers before we actually walked on set. That was really a reunion, as you can imagine. Really nice to see people I hadn’t seen forever and catch up, and to also see everyone back in their Twin Peaks look and style. It was pretty mind-blowing. I remember seeing David Lynch, and just how he had a big grin on his face. I’m sure I had a big grin on my face, and we just were really happy to be back working together.”
Showtime is billing Twin Peaks as a limited series. We asked MacLachlan if things had been left open for another season, if everyone wanted to.
“Hard to say,” he tells us. “I think that Twin Peaks has always got more stories there. I think it’s certainly possible. I don’t know what’s in the mind of David and Mark, but let’s just say if there were any interest from them, I would certainly be interested.”
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