Twin Peaks Writer Robert Engels Would Do Revival If Frost and Lynch Did

Writer and executive producer Robert Engels was among a group of Twin Peaks alumni to appear at the University of Southern California this weekend for a retrospective viewing of a handful of episodes, and a Q&A session.Among the other highlights of the evening, The Red Room Podcast reports that Engels, who wrote ten of the series’ episodes as well as the feature film, Fire Walk With Me, that came out after the show was cancelled, was asked about the prospect of returning to the series for a rumored third season.Here’s how The Red Room reported it–his response along with a fairly well-worn response regarding how the showrunners would have liked to approach the third season.

The moderator asked if there was any discussion of season 3’s storyline during the making of the show. Engels said there was naturally a discussion at the end of Season 2, but there was never any real plan. He said another writer, Harley Peyton, had the best idea for Season 3. The problems of season 2 would be solved during the first 20 minutes of the first episode. Then, the screen would fade to black and go to commercial break. After the break, the scene would remain black for a moment. Then, the screen would read, “10 Years Later,” and all the people would be in different places in their lives, working at different jobs. Essentially, Engels said, “We would start over.” If they ever do a season 3, I could see a similar opening, with Special Agent Dale Cooper escaping the Red Room 25 years later to a modern day Twin Peaks where everyone has new jobs and new lives. The TV audience would be in Cooper’s shoes as he visited and explored the town, and many of the old characters are re-introduced in interesting ways. As long as David Lynch and Mark Frost are involved in the entire process of a “Twin Peaks” renewal, I am in.

Of course, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Twin Peaks pilot is coming up in just over two years. Assuming a deal could be struck to revive the long-cancelled series, it’s entirely plausible that fans could see many of the same actors playing themelves 25 years later–and doing so remarkably close to 25 years later.