Twin Peaks type TV Show network Showtime

ABC genre Crime Where to watch Close Streaming Options

Showtime said very little about its delayed Twin Peaks revival, but what what the network has revealed should have fans excited.

At the Television Critics Association’s press tour in Pasadena on Tuesday, Showtime boss David Nevins dropped a few tidbits of intel.

First, the network had previously confirmed that the drama was pushed back to 2017. But now Nevins says co-creator David Lynch has shot about half the season and announced the show will return in the early months of next year.

Nevins told us in the post-panel scrum that he’d seen about 25 minutes of cut-together footage in an editing room. Pressed by EW on what it was like to watch those minutes, Nevins said, “It was stupendous. It was incredibly exciting. I don’t want to sit here and overhype it, but I was incredibly excited. You definitely felt like you were in the hands of a master.”

Also: Sources tell us According to Jim star James Belushi has been added to the show’s cast, which reportedly also includes returning Peaks stars Sherilyn Fenn, Miguel Ferrer, Sheryl Lee, and Lynch regular Laura Dern, in addition to announced series star Kyle MacLachlan. Normally we’d be leading off with the new casting, but Showtime (via Lynch) has a policy of not confirming any Twin Peaks casting. “I would not hold my breath for an announcement of all the casting of Twin Peaks,” Nevins told reporters dryly. If true that Belushi’s on board it’s an interesting addition: the actor was in ABC’s miniseries Wild Palms, which was perceived by some as inspired by the success of Twin Peaks.

Lynch wrote the new Twin Peaks episodes with fellow co-creator David Frost, and is directing all the episodes of himself. The project was originally supposed to be a nine-episode miniseries, but after Lynch threatened to drop out of the project, delaying the production, Showtime agreed to give him an unspecified number of additional hours to to tell the story.