‘Twin Peaks’ to return to TV as limited series on Showtime

More than two decades on, and the owls are still not what they seem.

Cult favorite “Twin Peaks” will return to television in a nine-episode limited series on Showtime in 2016, 25 years after its cancellation, the network announced Monday.

Co-creators Mark Frost and David Lynch will write and produce the series, while Lynch will direct all nine hours. Production will begin in 2015, but casting has yet to be announced.

According to Showtime, the revival will be set in the present day and “will continue the lore of the original series, providing long-awaited answers for the series’ passionate fan base.”

The promise of a bit of closure may come as welcome news to fans of “Twin Peaks,” which ended with one of the most cruelly unresolved cliffhangers in television history in 1991.

The series starred Kyle MacLachlan as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, a cherry pie enthusiast sent to the small Pacific Northwest town of Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of popular high school student Laura Palmer.

The surreal, stylized drama became a pop culture sensation when it premiered on ABC in 1990, with the mystery of “who killed Laura Palmer?” captivating millions of viewers -- for a while, anyway. The drama’s continued influence, however, can be seen across television. Most recently, many have noted the similarities between “Twin Peaks” and Fox’s upcoming event series “Wayward Pines.”

Ratings for “Twin Peaks” declined dramatically as the central mystery dragged on, and despite the fervent protests of its passionate admirers, ABC killed the series in 1991. A film prequel, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,” was released a year later, and talk of a series revival has persisted since then.
It reached a fever pitch Friday afternoon when both Lynch, the acclaimed director of such dark, trippy films as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive,” and Frost, a veteran TV writer and producer with credits including the groundbreaking “Hill Street Blues,” tweeted the same cryptic message, “That gum you like is coming back in style,” that fans instantly recognized as an allusion to the show.

“What more can I say – ‘Twin Peaks’ with David Lynch and Mark Frost on Showtime in 2016!” said Showtime president David Nevins. “To quote Agent Cooper, ‘I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.’ ”

For those unfamiliar with “Twin Peaks” and its lore, Showtime will also air the original first two seasons sometime before the reboot premieres in 2016.

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