[This post includes SPOILERS for the finale of Twin Peaks.]

-

Twin Peaks wrapped up its 25-years-in-the-making return season on Showtime Sunday with a two-hour finale that was every bit as challenging, maddening, and open-ended as the original two-hour series finale that aired on ABC back in 1991. Those expecting an ending that was either unambiguously happy or definitive probably don’t know Twin Peaks, or its co-creator David Lynch, all that well. But the ending chosen by Twin Peaks: The Return certainly left a whole host of unanswered questions.

Ever since the return of Twin Peaks was announced, in a tweet by Mark Frost, nearly three years ago, Showtime and the production have been adamant that the series was a one-shot deal, a limited series event that wasn’t part of any kind of continuing narrative. Still, even before Lynch and Frost went with an ending that was open-ended, lots of fans of the series have wondered whether we might see another Showtime season, or perhaps even a second Twin Peaks movie.

Related: Twin Peaks: The Return Made Sense

They shouldn’t get their hopes up. There have been “no discussions” about continuing Twin Peaks beyond The Return, leading man Kyle MacLachlan said in a post-finale interview with Deadline. “Well, I know for a fact there are no discussions for more Twin Peaks,” the actor who played Agent Cooper, Dougie Jones and “Mr. C” in Twin Peaks: The Return, told the site. “That’s where that is.”

This is certainly consistent with what everyone either with Showtime or associated in any way with the production has been saying throughout the entire process. Twin Peaks: The Return, while it drew a ton of media attention to Showtime and spurred a great deal of streaming signups, was not a significant ratings hit. While “limited series” have sometimes become anything but after pulling in huge ratings -- see 13 Reasons Why, as well as Big Little Lies -- Twin Peaks seems destined to stay that way.

Sure, Twin Peaks left off on a cliffhanger that, among other things, left Agent Cooper’s fate ambiguous. But so did the original series. And once it resumed, more than a quarter century later, that cliffhanger took Lynch, Frost and the writers more than 25 years to write their way out of. The ending that Twin Peaks: The Return used, involving alternate universes, would likely take even more work to untangle.

Twin Peaks was an important television series to a lot of people. That it resumed, more than 25 years later, with most of the living cast and creative team, with a cable network willing to give David Lynch and Mark Frost sufficient money and freedom to pursue their own deeply weird creative vision, is a small miracle. While it’s tempting to wish for more of something you love, it’s fair for Twin Peaks fans to make their peace that the story has ended where it has.

Next: The Twin Peaks Finale Mystifies In Its Pursuit Of Closure

All 18 episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return are available on Showtime and its streaming and On Demand services.

Source: Deadline