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Twin Peaks season 3

2017 season of television series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Twin Peaks season 3
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The third season of the surrealist mystery-horror drama television series Twin Peaks, billed as Twin Peaks: The Return and Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series, premiered on May 21, 2017, and concluded on September 3, 2017. The 18-episode season was broadcast in the United States on Showtime. It marked the Twin Peaks franchise's return to television after an absence of over 25 years, and continued storylines from the first two seasons (1990–91) and their part-prequel, part-sequel theatrical film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). The show's co-creators David Lynch and Mark Frost returned to write the third season, with Lynch directing every episode.

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Set 25 years after the events of the original Twin Peaks, the season follows multiple storylines, most of which are linked to FBI agent Dale Cooper (MacLachlan) and his 1989 investigation into the murder of high school student Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). In addition to the fictional Washington state town of Twin Peaks, the story extends to locations such as New York City, Las Vegas, South Dakota, New Mexico, and Texas.

The series garnered critical acclaim, with praise for its unconventional narrative structure, visual invention, and performances.[1] Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, and Esquire named it the best television show of 2017.[2] In December 2019, Vulture critics named Twin Peaks the best television series of the 2010s.[3] Some critics have also sought to label The Return as a film, with film journal Cahiers du cinéma naming it the best film of the decade,[4] and the 2022 Sight & Sound critics' poll voting it the 152nd-best film in history.[5] The revival has been regarded as one of the greatest television series of the 21st century.[6][7][8][9]

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Synopsis

The third season continues the events of the first two seasons (1990–91) and their part-prequel, part-sequel theatrical film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). It picks up from the second season's cliffhanger ending, when FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) was trapped in the Black Lodge and an evil doppelgänger—host to the evil spirit Bob—assumed his identity in the natural world. After escaping the Black Lodge, Cooper struggles to recover his past while fending off the increasingly suspicious Las Vegas criminal underworld. In South Dakota, Cooper's old friends at the FBI investigate a string of crimes perpetrated by the doppelgänger, as well as the mysterious death of a local librarian who studied paranormal phenomena. Finally, the residents of Twin Peaks contend with darker forces influencing the town and the generational fallout from the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee).

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Production

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Background and development

The first season of Twin Peaks premiered on April 8, 1990, on ABC. It was one of the top-rated series of 1990, although its ratings declined in the second season. In subsequent years, Twin Peaks has often been listed among the greatest television dramas of all time.[10][11][12][13][14] Aaron Spelling Productions wanted to continue the series for a third season but ABC canceled it because of declining ratings and high production costs. The studio instead decided to continue the series through a trilogy of feature-length films financed by the French company Ciby 2000.[15] A prequel film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, was released in 1992, but received negative reviews and a poor commercial performance, leading to the cancellation of the other two films in the series. Lynch and Frost tried to develop a spin-off series centered around Audrey Horne, but the pilot episode evolved into the unrelated theatrical film Mulholland Drive.[16] In 2001, Lynch said that Twin Peaks was as "dead as a doornail."[17][18]

In 2007, artist Matt Haley began work on a graphic novel continuation, which he hoped would be included in the "Complete Mystery" DVD box set. Twin Peaks producer Robert Engels agreed to help write it on the condition that Lynch and Frost approved the project; Haley said: "[Engels] and I had a number of discussions about what the story would be. I was keen to use whatever notes they had for the proposed third season. I really wanted this to be a literal 'third season' of the show." Paramount Home Entertainment agreed to package it with the box set, also on the condition that Lynch and Frost approved. Though Frost approved the project, Lynch vetoed it, saying that he respected the effort but did not want to continue the story of Twin Peaks.[19]

In or around 2012, Lynch and Frost met at Musso & Frank Grill in Los Angeles to discuss a potential third season.[20] They did so in part because, in the final episode of season two, Laura tells Cooper that she will see him in 25 years, and "the show’s baked-in time jump was approaching".[21] Lynch's then-wife Emily Stofle recalled that, starting in 2012, the two men began secretly meeting in Lynch's home studio to write the script, which "went on for many years"; as their ideas developed, they shifted to writing the script over Skype.[22] Lynch and Frost also privately reached out to Kyle MacLachlan in 2012 to make sure he would be interested in the project.[23] They completed the script in January 2015, although Lynch continued revising it after that, while Frost wrote a tie-in novel, The Secret History of Twin Peaks.[24] Lynch "expanded the story substantially" after Frost's departure.[25]

Due to the project's secrecy, Frost and Jennifer Lynch both publicly denied rumors that the show would return.[26] On the other hand, Ray Wise said Lynch told him that a third season was possible and that he might even be able to "work around" the death of Wise's character, Leland Palmer.[27] In September 2014, shortly before the third season was announced, Lynch said that the future of Twin Peaks was a "tricky question" and that "you just have to wait and see."[28]

Announcement and budget negotiations

On October 6, 2014, Showtime announced that it would air a nine-episode miniseries written by Lynch and Frost and directed by Lynch.[29][30][31][32] Frost emphasized that the new episodes would be a continuation of the series, not a remake or reboot. The episodes were to be set in the present day, and the passage of 25 years would be an important element in the plot. As to whether the miniseries would become an ongoing series, Frost said: "If we have a great time doing it and everybody loves it and they decide there's room for more, I could see it going that way."[33]

In mid-2015, Lynch and Showtime began locking horns over the show's budget. In a 2018 book co-authored by Lynch, Kristine McKenna wrote that Showtime (which was budgeting for the show on a per-episode basis) was concerned that Lynch did not like the original nine-episode plan, but would not tell Showtime how many episodes he needed to tell the story.[25] That April, Lynch announced he would not direct the third season due to budget constraints.[34] Days later, a video was released in which several Twin Peaks cast members, including Sheryl Lee, Dana Ashbrook, and Sherilyn Fenn, urged that Lynch be kept on board for the revival.[35] The dispute was resolved in May;[36] Showtime's David Nevins said that he compromised with Lynch by giving him a fixed budget for the entire season with no constraints on the episode count.[25] One week after the announcement, Fenn and Lee announced that there would be 18 episodes,[37] but Nevins maintained that the episode count was "open-ended" and that "we'll have [Lynch] cut [the footage] into however many episodes it feels best at".[38] After the show aired, Lynch thanked Nevins for "ma[king] Twin Peaks: The Return happen", saying, "maybe somebody else wouldn't have done that".[39]

Casting

On January 12, 2015, Kyle MacLachlan was confirmed to return to the series.[40] In October 2015, it was confirmed that Michael Ontkean, who portrayed Sheriff Harry S. Truman and had since retired from acting, would not return for the revival, and that the role of town sheriff would be filled by Robert Forster, later confirmed as playing Frank Truman, brother of Harry. Forster had been cast as Harry in the 1990 pilot but was replaced by Ontkean due to scheduling issues.[41] Also in October, David Duchovny teased his return as Agent Denise Bryson.[42] In November 2015, it was reported that Miguel Ferrer would reprise his role as Albert Rosenfield, and that Richard Beymer and David Patrick Kelly would return as Benjamin Horne and Jerry Horne, respectively.[43] In December 2015, Alicia Witt confirmed she would reprise her role as Gersten Hayward.[44] Michael J. Anderson was asked to reprise his role as The Man from Another Place, but declined.[45]

Russ Tamblyn underwent open-heart surgery in late 2014, and was still recovering in 2015. Lynch and Frost still hoped Tamblyn would join the cast for the new season, which was later confirmed.[46] On September 28, 2015, Catherine E. Coulson, who reprised her role of the Log Lady in the new season,[47] died of cancer.[48] She filmed her final scene four days before her death.[49][50]

The season's first teaser trailer, released in December 2015, confirmed the involvement of Michael Horse (Tommy "Hawk" Hill).[51] In January 2016, it was reported that Sherilyn Fenn would reprise her role as Audrey Horne in a "major presence".[52] In February 2016, it was reported that Lynch would reprise his role as Gordon Cole.[53] Frequent Lynch collaborator Laura Dern was cast in a "top-secret pivotal role",[54] which eventually proved to be Diane, the previously unseen character to whom Cooper frequently dictated taped messages during the show's original run. In April 2016, a complete cast list was released, featuring 217 actors, with actors returning from the earlier series marked with asterisks.[55] Mary Reber, who plays Alice Tremond in the finale, is the actual owner of the house used for the Palmer residence.[56]

David Bowie was asked to make a cameo appearance as FBI Agent Phillip Jeffries, his character from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.[57] As Bowie's health was declining, his lawyer told Lynch that he was unavailable. Before his death in January 2016, Bowie gave the production permission to reuse old footage featuring him, but he was unhappy with the accent he had used in the film, and requested that he be dubbed over by an authentic Louisiana actor, leading to the casting of Nathan Frizzell as Jeffries's voice.[58] In January and February 2017, respectively, cast members Miguel Ferrer and Warren Frost died, but both appear in the new season. This was Ferrer's last live action television role before his death.[59][60] Harry Dean Stanton, who reprised his role as Carl Rodd, died in September 2017, less than two weeks after the last episode of the season aired.[61]

Filming

Principal photography began in September 2015 and took 140 days.[62] Filming was completed by April 2016.[49] The season was shot continuously from a single, long shooting script before being edited into episodes.[49] A 3.2K digital camera, the Arri Amira, was used because it was the smallest camera to shoot in 4K, with 1960 ultra speed lenses from Panavision to soften some of the digital image's sharpness.[63]

In July 2015, Frost suggested that the season would premiere in 2017 rather than 2016, as originally planned.[64] In January 2016, Nevins confirmed that the season would premiere in the first half of 2017.[65]

Music

Main articles: Twin Peaks: Music from the Limited Event Series and Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series Original Soundtrack

The season's score contains new and reused compositions by Angelo Badalamenti, dark ambient music and sound design by Dean Hurley and David Lynch (including some from The Air Is on Fire), and unreleased music from Lynch and Badalamenti's 1990s project Thought Gang, two of which previously appeared in Fire Walk with Me. Hurley's contributions were released on the album Anthology Resource Vol. 1: △△ on August 6, 2017, by Sacred Bones Records.[66] Several tracks from Johnny Jewel's album Windswept also appear throughout. Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima by Krzysztof Penderecki appears in key scenes.

Angelo Badalamenti's score was released on September 8, 2017, by Rhino Records as Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series Original Soundtrack.[67]

Additionally, multiple episodes contain musical performances at the Roadhouse.[68] Lynch hand-picked several of the bands and musicians, including Nine Inch Nails, Sharon Van Etten, Chromatics and Eddie Vedder.[69] The final musical performance at the Roadhouse was by Julee Cruise, who sang the original series's theme. Twin Peaks: Music from the Limited Event Series, an album containing many of these performances, along with other songs heard on the season, was released by Rhino Records on September 8, 2017.[67]

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Other music, mostly played diegetically includes:

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and "Last Call" by David Lynch are played slowed down significantly.[73][74]

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Cast

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Main article: List of Twin Peaks characters

Twin Peaks

Government

Las Vegas

South Dakota

Supernatural

Michael J. Anderson did not reprise his role as The Man from Another Place, who instead appears as a treelike computer-generated effect, and is voiced by an uncredited actor. When asked who provided the voice for the CGI character, executive producer Sabrina Sutherland replied: "Unfortunately, I think this question should remain a mystery and not be answered."[45]

Other

New York

New Mexico, 1956

Montana

Odessa

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Episodes

See also: List of Twin Peaks episodes
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Release

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Season 3 intertitle

The season premiered on Showtime on May 21, 2017, with a two-hour episode.[108] After the airing, the premiere and an additional two episodes became available online, and the season aired in weekly increments from that point onwards (at Lynch's insistence). Overall, the series consists of 18 episodes.[108] It concluded on September 3, 2017, with a two-part finale.[109]

In the United Kingdom, Sky Atlantic simulcast the first two episodes beginning at 2:00 am British Summer Time on May 22, 2017,[110] and the next two episodes were released on Sky UK's on-demand service after the premiere.[111] In the Nordic countries, the season is broadcast on HBO Nordic, with the two-hour premiere airing on May 22, and subsequent episodes being made available the day after its U.S. airing.[112] In Canada, the season is available on CraveTV and The Movie Network, and debuted simultaneously with the U.S. broadcast.[113][114] In Australia, episodes of the season are available to stream on Stan the same day as the original U.S. broadcast.[115] In Japan, the season aired on the satellite television network Wowow, which also aired the original series.[116]

Two episodes were screened at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.[117] The season was screened in its entirety from January 5–7, 2018, at the Museum of Modern Art, as part of the museum's annual series on "the year's finest films".[118]

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Reception

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Twin Peaks (season 3): Critical reception by episode

Season 3 (2017): Percentage of positive critics' reviews tracked by the website Rotten Tomatoes[1]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a 94% approval rating, with an average score of 7.8/10 and based on 460 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Surreal, suspenseful, and visually stunning, this new Twin Peaks is an auteurist triumph for David Lynch."[1]

Sean T. Collins of Rolling Stone called the season "one of the most groundbreaking TV series ever", praising its original, complex storylines and the performances of its cast, particularly Kyle MacLachlan.[119] Matt Zoller Seitz of Vulture wrote that the show was "the most original and disturbing to hit TV drama since The Sopranos".[120] In his season review for IGN, Matt Fowler noted that Twin Peaks "came back as a true artistic force that challenged just about every storytelling convention we know" and scored it an 8.8 out of ten.[121]

Of the season's two-part premiere, Sonia Saraiya of Variety wrote: "Twin Peaks: The Return is weird and creepy and slow. But it is interesting. The show is very stubbornly itself—not quite film and not quite TV, rejecting both standard storytelling and standard forms. It's not especially fun to watch and it can be quite disturbing. But there is never a sense that you are watching something devoid of vision or intention. Lynch's vision is so total and absolute that he can get away with what wouldn't be otherwise acceptable."[122]

The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg wrote of the season's format:

It's obvious this Twin Peaks is going to be an 18-hour unit. There was no discernible separation between hours and if credits hadn't rolled, the second hour could probably just as easily have flowed into the third. This isn't episodic TV. It's another thing.[123]

In her "A" grade review of the premiere, Emily L. Stephens of The A.V. Club wrote of its possible reception by critics and viewers:

If you were looking forward to a return of the sometimes campy, sometimes cozy humor of the original two seasons of Twin Peaks, this premiere could come as a shock. If you were anticipating that once jolting, now familiar blend of genres, this is... not that... but pure Lynchian horror.[124]

Lynch screened the two-hour premiere of the season at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, and received a five-minute standing ovation from the crowd.[125]

Film journals Sight & Sound and Cahiers du cinéma respectively deemed the season the second-best and the best "film" of the year, with the former placing it behind the psychological horror film Get Out.[126][127] Writing for Vox, Emily St. James referenced the season in discussing the artistic difference, if any, between theatrical film and TV series in the streaming era.[128] Metacritic ranked Twin Peaks the second-best TV series of 2017; 20 major publications ranked it the best show of the year.[2] In 2019, Twin Peaks was ranked 22nd on The Guardian's list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century.[129] Writer-director Jim Jarmusch called the season "a masterpiece" and the single best piece of American cinema of the preceding ten years.[130]

2017 critics' top ten lists

The series has appeared on the following lists:[2]

Ratings

The two-hour premiere on May 21, 2017, received 506,000 viewers on Showtime, which Deadline Hollywood called "soft for such a strongly promoted prestige project". Ratings increased to 626,000 after the encore broadcasts that night and the premiere also had over 450,000 viewers via streaming and on-demand.[131]

Viewership for the premiere increased to 804,000 in Live+3 ratings, and it had a viewership of 1.7 million across streaming and on-demand platforms.[132] Showtime announced that the weekend of the Twin Peaks premiere had the most signups to their streaming service ever.[133] Prior to the finale, the season was averaging two million weekly viewers, when including time-shifting, encores and streaming. Showtime president David Nevins said that Twin Peaks "has exceeded expectations" from a financial perspective.[134]

Awards and nominations

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Analysis

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Franck Boulègue's The Return of Twin Peaks: Squaring the Circle comprehensively analyzes Twin Peaks: The Return, exploring its narrative complexity, cultural impact, and philosophical underpinnings. Boulègue frames the series as a unique hybrid of television and cinema, characterized by its nonlinear storytelling and engagement with themes of time, memory, and the uncanny. The book examines the show's departure from traditional formats and its reflection on the medium's evolution, positioning The Return as a bold artistic experiment that challenges viewer expectations.[147]

Kristina Šekrst examines Twin Peaks: The Return through the lens of binge-watching and media psychology. Šekrst highlights how Lynch's work challenges the boundaries between film and television, calling the third season an "18-hour movie" that defies traditional episodic structures. She connects the immersive narrative to recent neurological and psychological findings, exploring how seriality affects attention spans and viewer engagement.[148]

Dominique Chateau investigates the series' unique storytelling techniques. Chateau emphasizes Lynch's "filmic ideas", in which narrative structure intertwines with dream logic to create a layered, surreal experience. Using concepts from narratology and possible worlds theory, Chateau discusses how The Return blurs the line between reality and imagination, pushing the boundaries of serial storytelling and traditional cinematic aesthetics.[149]

Dominic Lash examines the series' pervasive theme of doubling. Lash argues that The Return acts as a "double" itself, layering fans' expectations of a revival onto the show's narrative while simultaneously subverting them. Through extensive use of doubles, from characters like Dougie Jones to Laura Palmer's parallel lives, the series blends nostalgia and defamiliarization. Lash concludes that The Return achieves a paradoxical fidelity to its original by taking bold creative liberties with its legacy.[150]

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Home media

The season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 5, 2017, under the title Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series. The set includes more than six hours of behind-the-scenes content.[151]

In the 2017 Home Media Awards, which honor the year's best home video releases, Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series won four awards: Title of the Year, TV on Disc of the Year, Best TV Movie or Miniseries, and Best Extras/Bonus Material.[152]

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Future

Lynch and Frost expressed interest in making another season of Twin Peaks, but Lynch said that such a project would not be immediately forthcoming, given that it took them four-and-a-half years to write and film the third season.[153][154][155] In June 2018, Lynch said the story was "calling", but that "there are a lot of disturbances";[156] in August, he said he was working through ideas with producer Sabrina Sutherland.[157] In April 2020, he said "nothing was happening" regarding further Twin Peaks.[158] Lynch died on January 15, 2025, making the production of any further episodes or any sort of revival of the series unlikely.[159]

Notes

  1. These actors appear both in archive footage and, playing different roles, in new material.
  2. Archive footage only
  3. These actors died before the season aired and episodes are dedicated in their memory.
  4. In the original series, Logan portrayed Louie "Birdsong" Budway.
  5. The character's name is not revealed until Part 14. Struycken was credited as "The Giant" in the original series.
  6. Mark Frost's novel Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier reveals that this girl is a young Sarah Palmer.
  7. Parts 3 and 4 were made available immediately after the premiere of parts 1 and 2 through Showtime's digital platform.[93]
  8. The listed year refers to the date of the ceremony, not necessarily the year in which the corresponding season or episode aired.
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References

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