Season 4? Or is it over after this? Wisteria/Unrecorded Night? Something else? (Speculation thread.)

[ManBehindWinkies]

Mark Frost's comment may not confirm there is a new Lynch project happening, but it sure seems like it confirms that there's nothing new happening with Twin Peaks (Frost just as easily could have said nothing).

Whatever the case may be, if it turns out new David Lynch cinema comes to pass, I'm excited for it whatever form it may come. His recent comment that he'd be working on a "continuing story" makes me think it is going to be a serialized show, but the anthology idea is interesting. Steve McQueen has a very interesting new project on Amazon Prime and BBC called "Small Axe". It's slightly hard to classify... it's an anthology series about West Indian communities in England in the 70's and 80's. But the first "episode" was feature length, over two hour long film, and easily could have been released as a standalone feature film (and it'd probably be one of the best films of the year). The second episode was 70 minutes long and far more experimental and non traditional in structure. There are still three episodes yet to be released, including others that are closer to feature length and others closer to a traditional television episode length. McQueen co-wrote and directed all five episodes/films. It's a really interesting platform for a cinematic artist. It'd be great to see Lynch doing something like that. It'd be great to see him doing an original continuing serialized story (this is what I expect). It'd be great to see him do more Twin Peaks. It'd be great to see him do anything in the cinematic medium before it's all over.

[IcedOver]

Considering this is in an industry publication, it feels more real than other rumors. However, I wonder if all their listings are set in stone as projects that are definitely greenlit or in active casting or whatever, especially at the moment. The fact that no press release has come out makes me suspicious. No reason to hide this info or be coy. Whatever the case, if it is a 10-plus episode series, the main thing is that he direct the whole thing and not just a portion. Anything less would be unsatisfactory. That's more important than whether another writer is involved. I don't believe it's "Peaks" whatsoever.

[Panapaok]

Netflix will definitely announce it officially at some point. It's pretty obvious that everything was on hold due to the pandemic. And now that there is a vaccine on the way, Lynch probably felt comfortable entering pre-production, while planning to start shooting in May.

[Soolsma]

The thing with Lynch is, that the lines between an anthology and a continuing story could be very blurry. And what some may consider the former, he might call the latter.

Would it be unlikely to think that in these times, there'll be a (surprisingly) large budget available? Almost every investor moving away from box office profits and towards streaming services? All those assets, resources and workers being largely out of a job. Netflix having to even pull harder to compete and retain it's position as (one of the market) leader(s).

[Jacob]

Considering this is in an industry publication, it feels more real than other rumors. However, I wonder if all their listings are set in stone as projects that are definitely greenlit or in active casting or whatever, especially at the moment. The fact that no press release has come out makes me suspicious. No reason to hide this info or be coy. Whatever the case, if it is a 10-plus episode series, the main thing is that he direct the whole thing and not just a portion. Anything less would be unsatisfactory. That's more important than whether another writer is involved. I don't believe it's "Peaks" whatsoever.

I think it goes without saying that Lynch is going to direct everything. It's not an old format, like season 1 and 2, where there was a headwriter/showrunner and a writer's room, with the directors working for the writers. Lynch is writing to direct. If he's not going to, he won't even bother.

I'm sure everything will be already scripted before the shooting begin, like season 3 (except obviously for some stuff that he's going to rewrite on the fly, like the Audrey storyline). So Lynch will be able to direct everything. It will be interesting though to see if he shoots it like one film, like season 3, or if he's doing it episode by episode this time. If its an anthology format, I'm guessing it should be the latter.

[Soolsma]

I'm sure everything will be already scripted before the shooting begin.

I don't know how you come to that conclusion. Have you for instance seen Inland Empire and know about the production process for it? The fact that TPTR almost stuck entirely to a pre written script doesn't give any guarantees for future work.

[Mr. Reindeer]

I think it goes without saying that Lynch is going to direct everything. It's not an old format, like season 1 and 2, where there was a headwriter/showrunner and a writer's room, with the directors working for the writers.

As a small nitpick, there was barely a “writers’ room” in the traditional sense on TP. If you read the interview book with Mark, I don’t think there was any writers’ room at all in S1, just Mark reviewing and rewriting scripts. In S2, the “writers’ room” was just Mark, Harley and Bob (and later just Harley and Bob while Mark went MIA), with the writer-of-the-week sitting in for their episodes. Barry Pullman, Scott Frost, etc. were freelancers.

I'm sure everything will be already scripted before the shooting begin.

I don't know how you come to that conclusion. Have you for instance seen Inland Empire and know about the production process for it? The fact that TPTR almost stuck entirely to a pre written script doesn't give any guarantees for future work.

I’ve been thinking about this too, and the prospect really excites me since INLAND EMPIRE is one of my favorite films and I’d love to see DKL do another high-wire act like that. But I would guess that Netflix would insist on some sort of script upfront. Also, IE took three years to make, with DKL shooting whenever the mood struck him. Obviously, this production for a major corporation is not going to work that way.

[IcedOver]

I don't think it's a given that he is intending to direct the whole thing if it's in the planning to be S3 length or more and filming/editing all at one clip. More likely than not it's the plan, but it's been stated how much work S3 turned out to be.

[LateReg]

I would be very surprised if he wasn't directing the whole thing. With all information available to us, I am 100% confident that he has 0% interest in working with anyone else, no matter how grueling the production may be.

[BGate]

Anyway, if they did report Wisteria as a working title, then the rest of what that Redditor said, including the 85 mil budget, should be taken seriously. If they didn't, then obviously it shouldn't be taken as seriously.

Not really. Budgets, although often eventually reported publicly, are much more protected information than something like a working/production title. It's not hard to believe that the redditor's source legitimately heard about "Wisteria" and that the other information was just a rumor being passed on.

This is not directed at you but it never ceases to amaze me when people, in discussions like this, use phrasing like "I'm sure" or "It's certain". Like, we don't even know for certain that this is a real thing yet. I think it's safe to say we can't be certain about specific details that Lynch himself probably doesn't even know at this point.

[LateReg]

Anyway, if they did report Wisteria as a working title, then the rest of what that Redditor said, including the 85 mil budget, should be taken seriously. If they didn't, then obviously it shouldn't be taken as seriously.

Not really. Budgets, although often eventually reported publicly, are much more protected information than something like a working/production title. It's not hard to believe that the redditor's source legitimately heard about "Wisteria" and that the other information was just a rumor being passed on.

This is not directed at you but it never ceases to amaze me when people, in discussions like this, use phrasing like "I'm sure" or "It's certain". Like, we don't even know for certain that this is a real thing yet. I think it's safe to say we can't be certain about specific details that Lynch himself probably doesn't even know at this point.

Good points. I hadn't thought of it that way. I'm simply operating under the assumption that since one thing is "true", another may be as well, lending some validity to the rest of that Redditor's claims. 85 mil doesn't seem out of the question, at any rate, and I had personally never doubted that something was happening given the faint but myriad strands of evidence, so perhaps I'm further along or more gullible in my belief: I've long been confident Lynch was definitely going to be making some series or film, and that it would be with Netflix, for example. But I'm not saying anything is fact, just that we can consider that information in a new, more serious light.

[Jacob]

I'm sure everything will be already scripted before the shooting begin.

I don't know how you come to that conclusion. Have you for instance seen Inland Empire and know about the production process for it? The fact that TPTR almost stuck entirely to a pre written script doesn't give any guarantees for future work.

I know about INLAND EMPIRE, but he didn't do INLAND EMPIRE for Netflix. Never in a million years Netflix, or Showtime, or CBS, would give Lynch 85m, or 50m, or even 25m, without a script (at least a pilot). More importantly, the shooting can't start if there is not a good chunk of scripts already in the bank (it would be dangerous because if in the middle of the shooting scripts aren't ready in time the shooting must stop).

But since Lynch won't work with a writer's room, with writers working while he's shooting (letting the show being wrote without him being in total control of it), you can bet that Lynch is going to start shooting with all the scripts already ready. Or a least a big, big part of it. Then of course he's going to improvise during shooting, rewrite stuffs on the fly, etc. He's Lynch. But it's not going to work like INLAND EMPIRE. It's a one in a lifetime experience. And honestly I don't think Lynch himself, let alone Netflix, would want to work this way again. I think he said that by the way.

Now that being said, I can be wrong, you never know with DKL. And I love INLAND EMPIRE !

I think it goes without saying that Lynch is going to direct everything. It's not an old format, like season 1 and 2, where there was a headwriter/showrunner and a writer's room, with the directors working for the writers.

As a small nitpick, there was barely a “writers’ room” in the traditional sense on TP. If you read the interview book with Mark, I don’t think there was any writers’ room at all in S1, just Mark reviewing and rewriting scripts. In S2, the “writers’ room” was just Mark, Harley and Bob (and later just Harley and Bob while Mark went MIA), with the writer-of-the-week sitting in for their episodes. Barry Pullman, Scott Frost, etc. were freelancers.

Yes, I know there wasn't a proper writer's room for Twin Peaks. But that's not really the point. What matters is the process (see what I answer to Soolsma just above). They were writers, which directors were depending on, because the shooting was happening while the other episodes were being written. Like a "classic show", where the showrunner is the headwriter. Most of the time, the rythm was dictated by the writers. Obviously, Lynch was sometimes able as a director to break free from that (see ep 29), but it wasn't a natural and pleasant thing for anybody.

That's why season 3 IMO was written like a big movie, before the shooting. So Lynch could direct all of it without being dependant on a writer. Frost this time wasn't a showrunner : he was just a co-writer (like Engels on FWWM). Because it was made like a movie, with the writing being done before the shooting. This way the director can be, like a movie, above the writers. And I'm sure Lynch is never gonna work any other way.

[Soolsma]

Meh, certainly there will be some outlines at the very least. But, I wouldn't be surprised if the script has possibly hour long chunks of '''go dreamy'' in it. It's not for nothing that he went from Showtime to Netflix, the man needs room to dream. Also, I certainly wouldn't denounce Frost as just a co-writer. Frost is the man that helped Lynch enable producing such an epic lengthy script in the first place. Like Lynch has stated on multiple occasions: he's not too good with words.

[madeleineferguson]

Weren’t Lynch and some of his associates spotted in Snoqualmie last year? The Salish Lodge closed for a few days because
Lynch was there, apparently scouting. I’m sure I remember this, does anyone else?

I don't think we've confirmed whether or not Lynch was present, but Peter Deming was there and Kyle MacLachlan was there - at the same time.

Thanks!! I knew I remembered something!

There’s a bunch of folks saying that this project is unlikely to be Twin Peaks because it’s on Netflix, not Showtime. And I think that’s just plain incorrect. It’s entirely possible Lynch decided to work with a new network, for more creative control, maybe a bigger budget. And it’s also possible that Netflix has worked out a deal with Showtime to bring Season 3 to Netflix too.

As for Mark Frost not being involved, well... he wasn’t involved with Fire Walk With Me either. Perhaps Lynch decided he wanted to do this next chapter of Twin Peaks all on his own.

To me, there were so many signs that this new work from Lynch was Twin Peaks related. I’m not ready to give up that dream yet.

[Soolsma]

But Maddy, wouldn't you also be a little heartbroke to have TP without Frost? I know I would.