kyle-maclachlan-twin-peaks

It’s been a long strange trip for the revival of David Lynch’s ‘Twin Peaks’ on Showtime, which is appropriate for such a legendarily bizarre series.  Showtime’s new version was announced in 2014 and the journey to bringing it to fruition has been tumultuous, to say the least, as the show’s creator at one point walked away from the project only to return later.

But it’s almost here!  Showtime bosses David Nevins and Gary Levine were on hand at the Television Critics Association press tour to not only announce the new ‘Twin Peaks” release date, but to reveal that the premium network was looking at new ways to distribute the show.

First, there’s that release date.  The entire new series will consist of 18 hours and the first two will air on May 21.  In a bold move, Showtime subscribers will immediately have access to the third and fourth hours.  This is a unique move, but in this Netflix/Hulu/Amazon world, it makes sense.  After all, Showtime is a premium network that subscribers have to pay for.  They should get some perks beyond repeat viewings of the various ‘Saw’ movies.

Showtime plans to air all 18…well, 17 episodes (since it seems the first is two hours long) of ‘Twin Peaks’ on consecutive Sunday nights with no breaks, which should come as a relief.

As far as what to expect, Nevins said:

“David Lynch is one of the great film masters of my lifetime.  And I think the version you’re going to see is pure heroin David Lynch, and I’m very excited to be the one putting it out.”

Levine added:

“I lived through Twin Peaks 1.0 when I was at ABC and that was a tsunami.  It’s hard for us to fathom what Twin Peaks will be in a social media environment.”

In the meantime, Showtime has recently added Lynch’s groundbreaking (and equally bizarre) ‘Blue Velvet’ to its movie lineup, so if you want a warm up before ‘Twin Peaks’, that is a perfect opportunity.  (Check your local listings.)

Are you ready to return to the twisted town of ‘Twin Peaks’?  Or are you just glad the wait is almost over?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter