Kyle MacLachlan will return along with ‘Twin Peaks’ on Showtime

Patient “Twin Peaks” fans may finally get to find out what happened to FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper when the series returns for its limited run on Showtime in 2016. Kyle MacLachlan, the square-jawed actor who played the upstanding agent in the show’s original run on ABC, is officially returning to the role.

Then again, this being “Twin Peaks,” the answer to what happened to Cooper after he got trapped in the Black Lodge may be more confounding than the question.

While many assumed MacLachlan’s involvement with the revival, considering how positive he sounded about it on social media, his return was not confirmed until Showtime’s panel at the TCA Winter Press Tour in Pasadena on Monday. It’s the only announced casting to date.

The series, which will film later this year for a 2016 airdate, will consist of nine episodes, all written by original creators Mark Frost and David Lynch. Lynch will also direct all nine episodes of the series, surely a relief to fans who were disappointed with the filmmaker’s decreased involvement in the original series during its second season.

Showtime has also revealed that the new series will take place in the present day, which, by the time it airs, will have been a full 25 years since the murder of Laura Palmer and the original investigation.

The original series ended with a cliffhanger in 1991, with Cooper’s soul trapped in the otherworldly Black Lodge, while his body had become possessed by the evil spirit BOB. Though references were made to this situation in the 1992 prequel film, “Fire Walk With Me,” this will be the first official continuation of the story since then.

The original series premiered on ABC in 1990 and quickly became a critical and audience hit, ushering in a higher level of discourse for a TV series that continues today. But in its second season, the audiences grew tired of what they saw as weirdness for weirdness’ sake, and the show was canceled at the end of that season.

Nothing yet has been revealed about the story line for the new series, but with Lynch and Frost’s direct involvement, it’s a guarantee that viewers will be picking it apart obsessively with each new announcement.

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