TV revivals have suddenly become all the rage with The X-Files, Coach and Full House all coming back to the small screen. Yet the show that may have started this wave of nostalgia might not be happening, after all.
On Sunday, David Lynch announced that he was walking away from Showtime’s revival of Twin Peaks, the spooky serial that ran on ABC from 1990 to 1991. Given that the series was Lynch’s baby, created by him and writer Mark Frost, it doesn’t seem to bode well that he’s decided not to be a part of this new show, which takes place 25 years after the original.
After 1 year and 4 months of negotiations, I left because not enough money was offered to do the script the way I felt it needed to be done.
— David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) April 5, 2015
This seems like a curious scenario, as the revived Twin Peaks has been in development for at least six months. (The project was announced in October 2014, but Lynch’s remarks indicate this had been in the works for nearly a year before that.) And only now, negotiations and budget considerations have reached a point where Lynch decided he couldn’t work with Showtime? Maybe this is typical in television. I certainly couldn’t say. Lynch clarified that Showtime didn’t cancel the show, despite Lynch leaving.
Dear Twitter Friends, Showtime did not pull the plug on Twin Peaks. — David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) April 5, 2015
Twin Peaks without David Lynch seems akin to… well, we’re getting Star Wars movies without George Lucas, so that’s not a good comparison. The Wire without David Simon? Maybe that’s the best example to use.
Lynch was the singular voice behind the show and its bizarre sensibilities. If Frost is still involved, maybe that’s good enough. But you have to wonder if some of the actors involved, like star Kyle MacLachlan, still want to be involved if Lynch isn’t. Have contracts been signed? Would fans and even new viewers be interested in the show without Lynch? We may — or may not — find out.
