Why a Twin Peaks season 4 is unlikely for Showtime

It does make sense to a certain degree to wonder about a Twin Peaks season 4 over at Showtime. After all, we live in a society that is stuffed full of all sorts of insatiable wants, and there are few things that any fan of the show would want than being able to live in this world for a little while longer. The fact that there was such an extended season 3 — or a series revival, if you prefer to call it that — is remarkable in itself. Remember how long this show has been off the air, and how it was always somewhat of a cult phenomenon in the first place.

Now that it is ending, of course that demand exists. Yet, we just don’t see a Twin Peaks season 4 happening for a wide array of reasons.

1. This wasn’t the plan – When the original show was brought back, one of the hopes was to just have Mark Frost and David Lynch tell the story that they wanted to tell. They are now doing that, and at some point, that story is going to come to a close and everyone will begin moving on to other things.

For a little more on that, take a look at what Showtime’s own head David Nevins said on the subject while at the TCA Summer Press Tour earlier this year (via The Hollywood Reporter): “I don’t think so, but it’s not impossible. [David Lynch and I are] both avoiding the conversation for a while; we want to let the story coalesce and see how people feel at the end.” This is pretty clear-cut evidence that, for now, there aren’t any real intentions to work more on this. Instead, we almost wonder if there are other collaborations more suited for their talents.

2. The ratings haven’t been that great – While Nevins has also boasted that Twin Peaks brought in an enormous number of subscribers to Showtime this year, that’s not something that may persist in some shape or form coming up. After all, you’re having to bank on these same people subscribing again after they likely don’t renew following the end of the show. The live+same-day ratings have been low, and while these don’t matter as much for a subscriber-based network, they are still low and matter for the sake of attention. (If you do want to read about the positives and negatives for the show in terms of its success, you can do so over here.)

3. Trying to get everyone back together again – Not only do you have Lynch and Frost to think about, but also this enormous cast. You can recast maybe one or two people if they become unavailable, but with a group this enormous it feels almost more like something that worked once and may never work again. There are no guarantees since everyone, inevitably, has to get other jobs in order to better secure their own future.

Do you think that we’ll get a Twin Peaks season 4 down the road, and do you think that we even need one? Be sure to share in the comments below. (Photo: Showtime.)