What a way to start off the week! The formidable cast list for Showtime's forthcoming Twin Peaks revival series was revealed this morning, and man, is it a doozy. In addition to boasting such key returning players as Kyle MacLachlan (Dale Cooper), Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer/Maddy Ferguson) and Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne), there are a number of surprising A-listers in the mix including Michael Cera, Trent Reznor, Amanda Seyfried and Naomi Watts.
On the downside, a not-insignificant number of cast members from both the original series and the 1992 prequel film Fire Walk with Me are completely absent from the list. Where, for instance, is Lara Flynn Boyle (or Moira Kelly, for that matter)? Michael Ontkean? Piper Laurie? Joan Chen? ANYONE from the mill? (Literally, there is no one from the mill.) So while I'm thankful that most of the major players are back in action, I can't help but lament the absence of a number of others. Now that you know who's in the new season, I'm here to let you know who's out.
Below you can check out the full list, with the major omissions (i.e. those whose non-involvement comes as at least something of a surprise) bolded and explained:
Don Amendolia (Emory Battis)
Michael J. Anderson (The Man from Another Place)
Photo Credit: ABC
How can you have the Giant (Carel Struycken) and not The Man from Another Place in a Twin Peaks revival? While Anderson's absence isn't a total shock — in a Facebook post back in 2014 he mentioned his involvement was “unlikely” — it's still a sad omission given how pivotal the character is to the show's mythology.
Robert Bauer (Johnny Horne)
Frances Bay (Mrs. Tremond/Chalfont) – Deceased
David Bowie (Phillip Jeffries)
Photo Credit: New Line Cinema
Okay, so it's not a critical omission: Bowie only had a small supporting role in Fire Walk with Me, as the cryptic FBI agent Phillip Jeffries. Then again, the superstar was still alive when the show began shooting, and as a result there was some hope that the fan-favorite character would return (another now-deceased cast member, Catherine E. Coulson, managed to shoot scenes prior to her death in September).
John Boylan (Mayor Dwayne Milford) – Deceased
Lara Flynn Boyle/Moira Kelly (Donna Hayward)
Photo Credit: ABC/New Line Cinema
Kelly took over for Boyle as Laura Palmer's best friend Donna in the 1992 film prequel Fire Walk with Me, a re-cast that at the time was chalked up to “scheduling conflicts.” I have to say, neither omission is particularly surprising. Boyle has kept a relatively low public profile the last several years (her last credit is the little-seen 2014 family comedy Lucky Dog), and according to a recent story in Deadline it was her choice not to return. And while Kelly was a solid replacement, the re-casting proved unpopular with a segment of Twin Peaks fans, which may have caused David Lynch and Mark Frost to purge the character from the series altogether.
Ian Buchanan (Dick Tremayne)
Victoria Catlin (Blackie O'Reilly)
Joan Chen (Josie Packard)
Photo Credit: ABC
Look, I get it: Josie ended her run on the series trapped in some existential drawer handle and was, by all accounts, “dead” to the physical plane. But as any fan knows, “dead” in the world of Twin Peaks doesn't necessarily mean “out of the running.” Alas! While Chen teased fans with a possible return late last year, it appears Josie is really and truly lost to the sands of time.
Eric Da Re (Leo Johnson)
Photo Credit: ABC
Shelly's abusive husband went through the ringer during the first two seasons but remained alive — albeit with a cage of tarantulas hanging over his head — by series' end. Then again, Da Re's absence isn't a total surprise: his last acting credit was way back in 2002.
Don S. Davis (Major Garland Briggs) – Deceased
Mary Jo Deschanel (Eileen Hayward)
Pamela Gidley (Teresa Banks)
Galyn Gorg (Nancy O'Reilly)
Heather Graham (Annie Blackburn)
Photo Credit: ABC
Though Cooper's love interest Annie was living and breathing at the end of the series, she will not live on in the revival — at least not in the form of Heather Graham. Some fans were skeptical of Graham's claim back in January that she would not be returning despite her “wish” to do so, but it turns out she was on the level all along.
Jane Greer (Vivian Smythe Niles) – Deceased
Chris Isaak (Special Agent Chester Desmond)
Tony Jay (Dougie Milford) – Deceased
Ron Kirk (Cappy)
Piper Laurie (Catherine Martell)
Photo Credit: ABC
Laurie hasn't appeared on screen since 2010, and owing to her age (she's now 84) her return as the scheming, seductive Catherine Martell was in doubt from the very beginning. Along with Chen and their late male co-stars Jack Nance (Pete Martell) and Dan O'Herlihy (Andrew Packard), Laurie made up a key part of the mill storyline on the original series, and their mutual absences seem to indicate the total closure of that subplot.
Robyn Lively (Lana Budding Milford)
Nicholas Love (Malcolm Sloan)
Austin Jack Lynch (Pierre Tremond/Chalfont)
Annette McCarthy (Evelyn Marsh)
Chris Mulkey (Hank Jennings)
Photo Credit: ABC
Last we saw Norma's slimy husband Hank, she left him sitting in jail after delivering one indelible line: “I'd rather be his whore than your wife.” Yes, Norma! Still, Mulkey's absence is a tad puzzling given that Hank was a major force in the show's original run — and that Mulkey remains prolific as a performer.
Jack Nance (Pete Martell) – Deceased
Dan O'Herlihy (Andrew Packard) – Deceased
Michael Ontkean (Sheriff Harry S. Truman)
Photo Credit: ABC
Ontkean's level-headed Truman was a vital player in the original series and the yin to Cooper's yang, but according to TVLine the actor has “fully retired from show business” — his last acting credit was in Alexander Payne's The Descendants in 2011 — leading Lynch to replace him with Robert Forster, who was in fact the original choice for the character.
Michael Parks (Jean Renault)
Molly Shannon (Judy Swain)
Frank Silva (BOB) – Deceased
Brenda Strong (Miss Jones)
Kiefer Sutherland (Special Agent Sam Stanley)
Lenny Von Dohlen (Harold Smith)
David Warner (Thomas Eckhardt)
Kenneth Welsh (Windom Earle)
Photo Credit: ABC
Though Earle was seemingly killed by BOB at the end of the series, I halfway expected the dark-hearted former FBI agent to turn up in the Black Lodge somewhere in Season 3. But like Josie Packard, his demise was apparently final.
Clay Wilcox (Bernard Renault)
Clarence Williams III (FBI Agent Roger Hardy)
Hank Worden (Waiter) – Deceased
Billy Zane (John Justice Wheeler)