We already knew Kyle McLachlan’s Agent Dale Cooper was returning (having presumably escaped the Black Lodge sometime in the past decades) but now the rest of the cast from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks revival has been confirmed. And while we still don’t know who any of the new characters are, at least we know which familiar faces will be back.
Emre Unayli’s TWIN PEAKS reboot art. Wow. pic.twitter.com/W3yKWmyR9o
— Tasha Robinson (@TashaRobinson) April 25, 2016
Deadline has the whole list, which includes big-name newbies such as Monica Bellucci, Michael Cera, Laura Dern, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Naomi Watts. But we’re more concerned with the returnees who played major roles on the original series. Of those folks, we’ve noted who they played on Twin Peaks before (and perhaps again, though who can say what Lynch will do?):
Mädchen Amick: Shelly Johnson. On the original series, Shelly was the young diner waitress with the unfortunate luck of being married to the abusive Leo Johnson, truck driver and Laura Palmer murder suspect. Eric Da Rae, who played Leo, isn’t on the cast list (he was in a tight spot at the end of Twin Peaks‘ original run, arachnophobes will recall…), so perhaps we’ll see Shelly and Bobby together at last, since Dana Ashbrook, who played Bobby, is on the cast list. Also back: Gary Hershberger, who played Bobby’s high-school football BFF Mike, and Bobby’s sometimes partner-in-sleaze, Walter Olkewicz, as the nefarious Jacques Renault.
Phoebe Augustine: Ronette Pulaski. She was with Laura Palmer when Laura was murdered, and has a bigger part in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me than she ever did on the show. And since Sheryl Lee, who played Laura (and Laura’s similarly ill-fated lookalike cousin), will be back for Twin Peaks 2.0, you have to wonder if these two will reunite. Or maybe we’ll see Laura in the Black Lodge. Or maybe Lee will play yet another lookalike relative. Who knows? Both of Laura’s parents — Ray Wise and Grace Zabriskie — return. Wonder what Leland Palmer’s been up to?
Richard Beymer: Great Northern hotel owner Benjamin Horne, and father of town vixen, at least in the post-Laura era, Audrey Horne (yes, Sherilyn Fenn is returning). Frankly, I thought he was dead after the whole “Ben is Donna’s father” reveal and subsequent punchout by the otherwise mild-mannered Doc Hayward (Warren Frost, he’s also back). Guess he survived. Perhaps the head injury will have made him, once again, believe he’s been re-living the Civil War all these years. Note: though Jan D’Arcy, who played Donna’s mother, Sylvia, returns, neither Lara Flynn Boyle nor Moira Kelly (who played Donna in the movie) are back. So what happened to Donna? Or will a third actress take on the role? Ben’s younger brother, Jerry (David Patrick Kelly), is also back.
Catherine Coulson: THE LOG LADY. Coulson passed away in 2015, but not before filming some scenes, hopefully filled with cryptic yet quotable words of wisdom.
Julee Cruise: The ethereal, whispery siren is apparently still leading the house band at the Road House. The Giant, Carel Struycken, also returns, but Michael J. Anderson, the Man from Another Place, does not. However, Al Strobel — the One-Armed Man — will be back.
David Duchovny: Denise returns!
Miguel Ferrer: Albert Rosenfield, the FBI’s crankiest forensics expert, and my personal favourite Twin Peaks character of all time. “Albert’s path is a strange and difficult one,” according to Agent Cooper (duh, we knew Kyle MacLachlan was back); we’re just glad it brought him back to Twin Peaks again. David Lynch himself is also on the cast list, presumably playing Albert and Cooper’s hard-of-hearing boss.
Harry Goaz: Deputy Andy Brennan, the Barney Fife of Twin Peaks, is back, along with Michael Horse, who played the spiritual Deputy “Hawk” Hill. Plus: Kimmy Robertson, who played ditzy Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department secretary, Lucy. But the sheriff himself, Michael Ontkean, does not return.
Peggy Lipton: Obviously, there’s no Twin Peaks without cherry pie, the Double R Diner, and Norma Jennings. Everett McGill, who played Norma’s longtime love Big Ed, is also back…but so is Wendy Robie, who played his wife. Will this love triangle still be in effect? What about those silent drape runners?
James Marshall: Laura Palmer’s brooding boy toy returns, as does Russ Tamblyn as her equally besotted, ageing-hippie doc, Dr. Jacoby.
(Harry Dean Stanton returns, too.)
Who’s missing? Well, besides the names noted above, the big hole in Twin Peaks is going to be the absence of BOB — the distinctively terrifying actor who played him, Frank Silva, died in 1995. Will one of the new cast members fill the void, or will we see BOB brought back via vintage footage from the show? Or will a new villain emerge? The owls, if you’ll recall, are not what they seem.