As we reported yesterday, over the weekend David Lynch gave an interview to the Australian news outlet ABC News. In that interview, he made a reference to how he “hasn’t returned yet” for the upcoming third season of Twin Peaks. This being Twin Peaks, and Lynch being a director known for choosing his words carefully in interviews—he’ll probably take the secret of the Eraserhead baby to his grave—that quote caused certain segments of the Internet to freak out, speculating that the show may be delayed or canceled entirely.
And you know what? They could still cancel Twin Peaks. They could also make a new season of Twin Peaks without David Lynch. Or you could inherit a massive fortune and pay David Lynch to do dramatic readings of his Twin Peaks scripts in your living room, or Killer BOB could be peering over your cubicle wall right now, sharpening his knife and grinning evilly at you while you read this article. Plenty of things could happen. But the truth of this situation is likely far more mundane: Lynch is holding out for a better contract.
Since word of Lynch’s statements came out yesterday, a number of people close to the source have claimed on social media that the “complications” the director is referring to are part of a contract dispute between Lynch and Showtime. According to sources cited in Indiewire, Showtime awarded Lynch full creative control of Twin Peaks up front, but Lynch wants a large percentage of the profits from Twin Peaks DVD/Blu-ray and soundtrack sales as well. And considering the media furor that came from a couple of ambiguous comments implying that Lynch might not do the show, Showtime will probably give him what he wants.
Meanwhile, everyone at Showtime is smiling and pretending that none of these unsettling things are happening immediately below the show’s surface. “Nothing is going on that’s any more than any preproduction process with David Lynch,” a mystery source who is presumably either a wholesome-looking blonde with a secret or an alluring-but-dangerous brunette tells Entertainment Weekly. “Everything is moving forward and everybody is crazy thrilled and excited.”