The return of Twin Peaks has been a long time coming, with the project hitting several bumps in the road, including showrunner David Lynch departing the revival, only to be coaxed back with the promise from Showtime that he could make the show as he wished. That's all in the past now, though, with the third season already finished, and (hopefully) making its debut soon.

Twin Peaks' new home will be on Showtime, but the network has yet to give an official premieredate, the nearest approximation being sometime this spring. In fact, barring a few very short and nondescript teasers, we have yet to see any footage from the revival of the cult TV show at all. That could change soon, though, based on reports that Twin Peaks season three could well premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival before making its way to Showtime.

As with all things surrounding Twin Peaks, there's a lot of secrecy, leaving us not a lot to go on, but Deadline says that discussions are taking place for Twin Peaks to at least have some form of presence at the festival; possibly even a Twin Peaks-themed event where the new season would preview. Showtime have denied that is the case, though they stopped short of denying that Twin Peaks will be there in some capacity. Though a film festival in essence, Sundance has been known to expand upon its inclusion of TV in its program in recent years, including the inclusion of Stephen King TV adaptation, 11.22.63 last year.

In 2017, the festival will take place from January 19-29, but before that, Twin Peaks has a TCA panel on January 9. It's doubtful any substantial footage will be shown then, but fans will be hoping for at least an air date to be confirmed, and possibly a trailer to be released - one that includes something other than Gordon Cole eating donuts, that is.

[UPDATE: Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost has shot this rumor down, saying the new season of the TV show "is NOT, repeat, NOT going to be shown at Sundance this year." The remainder of this article has been left as it was originally published.]

Twin Peaks Laura Palmer

The majority of original characters are returning for Twin Peaks season 3, including Kyle McLachlan as Special Agent Dale Cooper, Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer), Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne), Mädchen Amick (Shelly Johnson) and Ray Wise (Leland Palmer), Michael Horse (Deputy Hawk), Dana Ashbrook (Bobby Briggs), Miguel Ferrer (Albert Rosenfeld), Peggy Lipton (Norma Jennings), Everett McGill (Ed Hurley) and Catherine Coulson (Log Lady). Though Coulson has passed away, she filmed her scenes before her death. Lynch himself also reprises his role as the aforementioned Gordon Cole.

The list of new cast members is just as vast; it seems as though Lynch has tried to focus on a good proportion of Twin Peaks' 51,201 population. Michael Cera, Amanda Seyfried, Naomi Watts, Ernie Hudson, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Laura Dern, Trent Reznor, Jessica Szohr, Jane Levy, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Knepper, Jim Belushi, Tom Sizemore, Ethan Suplee, Balthazar Getty, Bailey Chase, David Koechner, and Larry Clarke are just some of the names who will be putting in an appearance. In fact, over 215 actors names are on the cast roster. Quite how they'll all fit into the narrative is anyone's guess, but Agent Cooper will certainly be kept busy.

With Twin Peaks having been absent from our screens for 25 years now, a high profile debut such as Sundance, could be a good opportunity to pull in new viewers. There's a whole lot to catch up on from seasons one and two, but a lot of buzz surrounding the revival, along with the anticipation from fans of the cult classic, could well be enough to ensure that Twin Peaks manages to appeal to a whole new legion of fans.

Twin Peaks season 3 will air on Showtime in 2017.

Source: Deadline

Update Source: Mark Frost