Will Twin Peaks Release Any New Footage Before May?

We’re roughly three months away from new episodes of Twin Peaks — something people haven’t been able to say in a quarter of a century — and it’s looking more and more possible that Showtime and executive producers David Lynch and Mark Frost might literally not share any new footage from the series before it debuts in May.

The move would be basically unprecedented for a project on the scale of Twin Peaks, and one that comes with as much hype and expectation as this one…but it’s not exactly outside the realm of possibility.

J.J. Abrams, with his Star Trek and Star Wars films in particular but to a lesser extent with 10 Cloverfield Lane, which was filmed in secret and sprung on the world just weeks before its theatrical release date, has flirted with the idea of releasing as little as humanly possible, so that the audience can go into the experience of the movie without much knowledge of what’s to come.

Christopher Nolan did a lot of the same with The Dark Knight Rises, although as the release date got closer and critical screenings became a thing, more and more of that movie’s plot started to leak out into the world.

With Twin Peaks, it’s been an odd animal. Filming began on location in North Bend, Washington, and a barrage of tweets and Reddit posts started to share set-spy photos. Not long after that, Welcome to Twin Peaks, probably the most popular Twin Peaks fan site on the internet, indicated that because both producers and fans wanted those photos not to be posted, they would abide by those requests and allow only official releases to set the tone for the revival.

Showtime, in turn, has set that tone by releasing numerous teasers, behind-the-scenes featurette, and even a Super Bowl Sunday TV spot, all of which featured either old footage or behind-the-scenes shots that reveal nothing about the story.

A massive cast list that included over 200 names, but did not reveal who any of the new players might be portraying, also prevents fans from making too many educated guesses about what’s to come when Laura Palmer sees Cooper again in 25 years.

There’s certainly still time to get more footage out there ahead of the first two episodes airing back to back on May 21, but as that date nears, it seems more and more likely that a fan base who has been waiting for this long, and who by and large swear by David Lynch as a visionary genius, are willing to wait a little longer.

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