Twin Peaks–Pacific Northwest logging town increases population by 217

Step back five years and ask what television series genre fans would like to see turn into a modern sequel and at the top of the list you would likely have found The X-Files, Firefly, and Twin Peaks. Two out of three ain’t bad.

Add 217 more citizens to Twin Peaks’ population of 51,201. David Lynch & Co. released the list of cast members for Twin Peaks, the Showtime sequel series, and the question really isn’t who is in the new series, but who is not. Coming back is Kyle MacLachlan (FBI Agent Dale Cooper), Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer/Maddie Ferguson), Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne), Mädchen Amick (Shelley Johnson), David Duchovny (Dennis/Denise Bryson), Michael Horse (Deputy Hawk Hill), Dana Ashbrook (Bobby Briggs), Miguel Ferrer (Albert Rosenfield), Ray Wise (Leland Palmer), Grace Zabriskie (Sarah Palmer), Alicia Witt (Gersten Hayward), Kimmy Robertson (Lucy Moran), Peggy Lipton (Norma Jennings), Catherine Coulson (The Log Lady), Everett McGill (Ed Hurley), Phoebe Augustine (Ronette Pulaski), Harry Goaz (Deputy Andy Brennan), Julee Cruise (Roadhouse Singer and soundtrack singer), Warren Frost (Doctor Hayward), Jan D’Arcy (Sylvia Horne), and Gary Hershberger (Mike Nelson).

And that’s not all. Also returning is Andrea Hayes (Heidi), David Patrick Kelley (Jerry Horne), Bellina Logan (Louie), Walter Olkewicz (Jacques Renault), Richard Beymer (Ben Horne), Carel Struyken (the giant), Wendy Robie (Nadine Hurley), Al Strobel (one-armed man), Charlotte Stewart (Betty Briggs), Marv Rosand (diner cook), Jerry Marshall (James Hurley), Russ Tamblyn (Dr. Jacoby), Carlton Russell (jumping man), Harry Dean Stanton (Carl), and David Lynch (Gordon Cole). Scott Coffey is also listed as a returning actor, but we don’t remember him in this Lynch show, although he was in other Lynch productions.

So no Michael Ontkean, Lara Flynn Boyle, Joan Chen, Piper Laurie, Heather Graham, Billy Zane, Brenda Strong, Michael J. Anderson, or David Warner. Key players Jack Nance and Don S. Davis have passed away since the original series aired as has most recently Catherine Coulson, who was able to film some scenes for the series. The biggest miss, of course, is Michael Ontkean, retired from acting now, who played MacLachlan’s co-lead for much of the series as Sheriff Harry S. Truman. Fans want to see all of the return players, but it may not be a good sign that so many newcomers will be in the show. Even if the originally discussed nine episodes doubled, that doesn’t give a lot of screen time to very many characters.

So who is new? Several big name actresses from genre films and series past and present: Naomi Watts, Amanda Seyfried, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Candy Clark, Meg Foster, Monica Bellucci, and Laura Dern. Plus Tim Roth, Eddie Vedder, Jim Belushi, Ernie Hudson, Richard Chamberlain, John Billingsley, Robert Knepper, Tom Sizemore, Balthazar Getty, David Koechner, Larry Clarke, and because there wasn’t enough oddity in Twin Peaks, Michael Cera will have a role as well. The best news of all? Fan favorite actor Robert Forster will appear in the series.

Information from the forthcoming The Secret History of Twin Peaks, a novel from Mark Frost (which we plan to review here at borg.com), indicates a possible plot for the new series:

Twenty-five years after Agent Dale Cooper’s investigation of the murder of Laura Palmer, the FBI acquires a box from an anonymous source. In the box, a dossier. A female FBI agent is tasked to analyze all the documents inside and the town of Twin Peaks. She must determine the identity of the person who compiled the dossier and along the way she discovers secrets about the lives of the town’s residents, but also investigative reports from Agent Cooper who has since vanished, newspaper clippings, an autopsy report, and other classified information. What happened in the intervening 25 years? And why did someone compile such a thorough dossier on Twin Peaks?

Pre-order you copy of The Secret History of Twin Peaks here at Amazon.com now. If you missed it, The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer is available here now.

Here is a brief teaser for the series: