The third season of Twin Peaks has battled through the mire of development hell, and is now said to be approaching production. Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour, Showtime CEO David Nevins confirmed that the series will pick up after its two-decade break this fall. “Shooting starts in September, thankfully,” he told reporters, before being asked about the show’s premiere date that’s rumored to have been pushed to 2017:
“I want it as badly and as soon as the biggest fans in the world want it,” he said. “I’m hoping we make 2016. It’s not clear. It’s ultimately going to be in their control. They’re going to shoot the whole thing and then they’ll start posting.. Bottom line is I’ll take it when they’re ready with it… but I’m hoping sooner rather than later.”
The cult classic show received the greenlight for another string of episodes late last year. Original creators David Lynch and Mark Frost are on track to shepherd the show through to completion, after struggling through a tough negotiation with Showtime over the quantity of episodes. Nevins went on to address the issue, playing down concerns over Lynch’s return:
“I never had any doubts we were going to get him back. This was a huge priority project to me. It became clear that it was going to take more than nine episodes, which was the originally planned-for and budgeted=for length of the series. I really wanted to get David to direct the whole thing, and he wanted to direct the whole thing. We had to work out the details. We eventually got through it, and they’re looking to be in great shape, starting in just a few weeks.”
He goes on to describe the amount of episodes agreed upon as “open-ended.” As Lynch plans to shoot the season as one long movie, the episode count is expected to be formulated during the post-production process. Like the content of the show, this method is somewhat unorthodox. No doubt part of Showtime’s agreement with Lynch hinged upon his complete creative control over the finished string of episodes, which, Nevins teases will include some “big surprises.” There’s no doubt that with Lynch steering Twin Peaks back to the small screen, those twists will come thick and fast.
