David Lynch dealt a serious blow to efforts to bring back the beloved cult series Twin Peaks on Showtime. The co-creator, who was set to direct every single episode of the revival, has now backed out.
On Sunday, the acclaimed director sent a series of tweets, confirming that he could not work out a deal with the network. “Dear Twitter Friends, Showtime did not pull the plug on Twin Peaks,” he began. “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.”
Then, he said he started calling actors this weekend to tell them that he will not be directing. However, “Twin Peaks may still be very much alive at Showtime. I love the world of Twin Peaks and wish things could have worked out differently.”
Showtime quickly issued a response to TheWrap, noting that the network is “saddened” to hear that the Mulholland Drive director is leaving, “since we believed we were working towards solutions with David and his reps on the few remaining deal points.”
“Showtime also loves the world of Twin Peaks and we continue to hold out hope that we can bring it back in all its glory with both of its extraordinary creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, at its helm,” the network added.
Back in October, Showtime announced that it had ordered a nine-episode revival of the cult series with both Frost and Lynch onboard to write. Lynch was set to also direct every episode and they would start airing in 2016. The network was so confident that everything was going to work out that it had original star Kyle MacLachlan hand Showtime president David Nivens a “damn fine cup of coffee” at the Television Critics Association press tour in January.
However, last month, it became clear that there was a crack in the armor. As Welcome To Twin Peaks reported, during an event in Australia, Lynch first said that there were “complications” with the reboot and “didn’t know” if it was actually happening. Entertainment Weekly then reported that Twin Peaks was still on.
Looks like Agent Cooper might have to wait even longer for a slice of cherry pie.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com