The cast of the new series of Twin Peaks is apparently rapidly expanding, with news that Golden Globe winner Jennifer Jason Leigh has joined the project. Though the production team continues to keep details largely unconfirmed with regard to the wider group of original cast members that may (or may not) be returning, Jennifer Jason Leigh now takes her place on an intriguing list of newcomers to the troubled logging town.
Her involvement was noted when candid photographs were recently snapped of the actress appearing to film a night shoot, in the Mojave desert, with series star Kyle MacLachlan (playing Special Agent Dale Cooper). According to reports, the pair were also joined by Sheryl Lee, who played the iconic Laura Palmer in the original series – the Twin Peaks teenager whose murder set thirty episodes of award-winning television in motion.
Inevitably, there will be speculation regarding the nature of the scene being filmed in the desert, and the presence of Laura Palmer would seem to indicate that it might be one of the infamous dream sequences that characterize the work of series co-creator David Lynch. The question then becomes whether the role played by Jennifer Jason Leigh is confined to those dream sequences, or appears in them precisely because she is now a part of the town back in Washington State.
Jennifer Jason Leigh joins new cast members Amanda Seyfried, Robert Knepper and Balthazar Getty, along with rumoured addition, Robert Forster. It has been speculated that Forster has entered the fold in a law enforcement capacity, since the original Twin Peaks Sheriff Harry Truman (Michael Ontkean) is definitely not returning. With regard to the rest of the original cast, fans will remember that an onscreen death in Twin Peaks has never precluded a further appearance, so there may well be a few familiar faces gracing our screens when the show returns on Showtime in 2017.
