AUS EXCLUSIVE: Mädchen Amick & Sheryl Lee On The Long-Awaited Return Of 'Twin Peaks'

17 May 2017 | 10:52 am | Guy Davis

"I never thought it would ever happen, even though I would see other shows that would have a remake or a reboot or a return."

You may have turned to this page looking for answers, and that's understandable. Something you should also understand is that while answers can be provided to some of your questions, the best that can be provided in other areas of inquiry is a clue or two.

Having said that, let's talk about the return of Twin Peaks to our screens, 25 years after some of the sad and shocking mysteries of the eponymous small town were revealed in the ground-breaking television series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost and the 1992 prequel film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, co-written and directed by Lynch.

In the early 1990s, TV was far from the creative playground it has become over the last decade or so. Programming was entertaining, sure, but for the most part formulaic, and any artistry that coloured outside the lines, so to speak, was a welcome outlier.

So it was interesting enough when Lynch, whose 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet had consolidated his position as one of America's most radical filmmakers, and his friend and collaborator Frost, a screenwriter and novelist, were given the opportunity to create a series that would bring together the conventions of a small-town soap opera and an ongoing murder mystery.

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But when that series not only explored some of Lynch's trademark obsessions but did so with the filmmaker's distinctively moody, atmospheric and occasionally oblique style, it hit the collective consciousness like a bolt of lightning.

"I always kept Twin Peaks away from that because I thought you couldn't catch lightning in a bottle more than once. How could you possibly revisit something that was so unique and special?"

Viewers were of course drawn to Twin Peaks' central mystery — just who did kill Laura Palmer, the town's beloved golden girl with a shattering secret life? But the whole aesthetic of the show seemed to cast something of a spell.

And even though those viewers began to turn away from the show in its second season once the identity of Laura's killer was exposed — a downturn that culminated in the show being cancelled at the end of that season — the spell remained somewhat in place, with more and more programs showcasing the individual and idiosyncratic voices of their creators with greater volume and clarity.

And of course, in the years following its cancellation, there were often whispers of a Twin Peaks revival. But it wasn't until a few years ago that talk of the show's return on the small screen started to seem like more than idle chatter.

In 2014, US pay-TV network Showcase announced that it would air an 18-episode run of new Twin Peaks episodes, scripted by Lynch and Frost and, thrillingly, all directed by Lynch. What's more, the majority of the show's original cast members — as well as an array of new additions, including previous Lynch collaborators Laura Dern and Naomi Watts — would be reprising their roles in what was called a continuation of the original story, rather than a reboot.

For Mädchen Amick — who played Shelly Johnson, a beleaguered young waitress caught in a love triangle with her brutish husband Leo (Eric Da Re) and her smitten but dopey lover Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) — there'd been enough talk of Twin Peaks making a comeback over the years since its cancellation that she'd started to take every rumour with a sizeable grain of salt.

"I think it was five or six years after we were cancelled that I started hearing rumours, and it's always been there with the fan base — the hopes and wishes that it would come back," she says.

"For me, I never thought it would ever happen, even though I would see other shows that would have a remake or a reboot or a return. But I always kept Twin Peaks away from that because I thought you couldn't catch lightning in a bottle more than once. How could you possibly revisit something that was so unique and special?

"But I was thinking too small. I was thinking of it going back to network television. They had a hard time handling it the first go-round, and I think a second time around would be constricted and confined. It didn't even cross my mind, the idea of it going to cable or some other venue. So it didn't cross my mind until the morning David Lynch and Mark Frost announced it simultaneously on their Twitter accounts.

"All of these texts and email started flooding my phone, friend after friend — the first one I opened was from Dana Ashbrook, and he wrote 'Mädchen, is it true?' I immediately emailed David Lynch and asked, 'David, are these rumours true?' and he simply wrote back 'Madge-kin' — which is his nickname for me — 'I'll be seeing you very soon in the beautiful world of Twin Peaks'."

That seems very David Lynch, doesn't it? A little florid and a lot mysterious. But the filmmaker inspires great loyalty from pretty much everyone he works with, Amick included.

"The biggest misconception about David Lynch is that everyone assumes he's going to be weird and mysterious and unapproachable and hard to understand, and he's the exact opposite of that," she says.

"He's so personable, so caring, so collaborative — he's a great human and an amazing artist, and that brings out your best work."

Sheryl Lee, whose performance as Laura Palmer in the series and film is remarkable and unforgettable, agrees wholeheartedly.

"I don't have a clue what he will do with what he shot. I know that sounds strange, but inside David's creative world it isn't."

"Working with David on anything anytime is always a wonderful gift," she says. "I know that I am in the best of hands with him — that I will be challenged creatively, grow outside of my comfort zone and work with many incredible artists in all departments. It is an opportunity to dive into the mystery, walk into the unknown and unfamiliar. He creates such a safe, collaborative environment in which to play."

And that kind of approach is what brought back the bulk of Twin Peaks' cast and crew — Lee and Amick included — for this 18-episode reprise 25 years down the line, even if not all of them were privy to the big picture Lynch and Frost were putting together this time around.

"I am as excited to see what the new Twin Peaks will be as the audience is," says Lee. "Because of the way that we worked on the new season, I honestly have no idea. That's the thing about working with the master — I don't have a clue what he will do with what he shot. I know that sounds strange, but inside David's creative world it isn't."

"None of us were able to read the entire script, unless you were a key crew member who had to know the whole story," says Amick.

"All of the actors were invited to read just their scenes, which has helped in keeping the mystery alive, which is what we're encouraging the fans to do as well. I can't speak about the whole show and how it will feel, because I don't really know.

"But in the little snippets that have been released, these little glimpses of the characters we've come to know so well, it has this cinematic quality which is different from the original show. There'll be a nostalgic aspect, of course, but I have the feeling it'll have a different flavour because we've all grown and changed and David Lynch has grown and changed as a filmmaker.

"Knowing him, and knowing how he likes to incorporate all these different advances into the different mediums he works in, I have a feeling Twin Peaks will be elevated because of that.

"He's just so brave in that he doesn't just touch on an emotion; he spends time in that emotion. He takes the time to explore every nuance of it. He stays long enough for everyone to break through and let go and go on the journey with him."

Twin Peaks premieres 22 May on streaming service Stan. Visit www.stan.com.au for further details.