When Twin Peaks first aired on television screens, it was an unexpected hit with viewers and has since developed into something of a cult sensation.

It would be entirely expected, then, that the show's return in 2017 would spark a similar frenzy; however, the ratings for the season premiere seem to speak otherwise.

Deadline reports that only 506,000 viewers in the US tuned in to the watch the two-hour, two-episode premiere of season 3.

That set it behind both of its direct Sunday night competitors, HBO's The Leftovers and Starz's American Gods; at 770,000 and 631,000 viewers respectively, even though both are midway through their seasons.

However, it's not too much a cause for concern, and perhaps far more an indication of how viewers choose to consume this kind of work.

Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Show all 21 1 /21 Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) Laura's murder is the mystery that sets off Twin Peaks and which brings Dale Cooper to the sleepy town drenched in mystery. Her soul still appears to be trapped in the Black Lodge, along with Cooper. Photograph by Marc Hom Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) The FBI Special Agent sent to Twin Peaks to investigate Laura's murder ended things in a perilous situation. The show's famous final scene sees him smashing his face into the mirror, as the killer BOB's reflection stares back out. Is he possessed? Or is this his evil doppelgänger, with the Good Dale still trapped in the Black Lodge? Photograph by Marc Hom Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Shelly Johnson (Mädchen Amick) Shelly spent the series trapped in an abusive marriage to trucker Leo Johnson, whose fate was left uncertain at the end of the show, though her own secret affair with Bobby Briggs ended in a marriage proposal. Photograph by Marc Hom Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) Bobby found himself in a lot danger during his high school days thanks to his involvement in the local drug trade. Though formerly Laura's boyfriend, his secret romance with Shelly blossomed over the series and ended in a proposal. Photograph by Marc Hom Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Nadine Hurley (Wendy Robie) Ed Hurley's eccentric wife, possessing both phenomenal strength and an obsession with drape runners, saw her attempted suicide trigger a bout of dementia-amnesia, where she still believed she was a teenager. After having a sandbag dropped on her head, however, Nadine's memory was restored. Photograph by Marc Hom Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton) The owner of the Double R Diner, she and Ed have been in love since high school, and the show saw them come very close to finally getting together during Nadine's bout of memory loss. Will they still be pining for each other? Photograph by Marc Hom Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Ed Hurley (Everett McGill) With Nadine's memory returning at the end of the series, the implication is that Ed and Nadine's marriage has remained intact. Ed suffered tremendous guilt over the loss of Nadine's left eye in a hunting accident during their honeymoon, when it was struck by a piece of buckshot from his gun, which has made him feel like it was impossible to ever leave her. Photograph by Marc Hom Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) A master manipulator whose teenage crush on Cooper faded when she met Billy Zane's rich charmer John Justice Wheeler, the show left things open as to whether she died in the explosion at the local bank, having chained herself to the vault door in protest. However, the book The Secret History of Twin Peaks confirms she survived and was taken to hospital in critical condition. Photograph by Marc Hom Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? James Hurley (James Marshall) Twin Peaks' biker with a soul was once Laura Palmer's secret love, though her death saw him realise his true feelings toward her best friend Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle). However, by the end of the series, James had left the town and was en route to Mexico. Photograph by Marc Hom Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Gordon Cole (David Lynch) Cooper's boss supposedly has a fairly prominent role in the new series, though the show saw him fall head-over-heels for Shelly, upon discovering she's the only person the hard-of-hearing chief could understand with perfect clarity. Photograph by Marc Hom Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) Audrey Horne's father seems to have changed little in our time away, as he's still apparently managing the Great Northern Lodge in Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Lucy Brennan (Kimmy Robertson) and Andy Brennan (Harry Goaz) Neither have Lucy or Andy, still in their respective jobs at the Twin Peaks Police Department, though it's nice to see their relationship has only blossomed with time. Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Tommy "Hawk" Hill (Michael Horse) Hawk is still part of the Police Department too, and it seems like he's been tasked with the mysterious mission of tracking down Agent Cooper. Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? The Log Lady (Catherine E. Coulson) A task entrusted to him by the Log Lady, a bittersweet moment considering Coulson sadly passed away in 2015. Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Denise Bryson (David Duchovny) One individual who's definitely shot up the career path is Denise, now the chief of staff for the entire FBI. Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Beverly Paige (Ashley Judd) We don't know much about Ben Horne's assistant, but it's likely we'll see more of her soon. Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? William Hastings (Matthew Lillard) Is the local high-school principal of Buckhorn, South Dakota really behind the murder of Ruth Davenport? Is this somehow connected to BOB, or Dale Cooper's doppelganger? Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Wally Brando (Michael Cera) Lucy and Andy's son really couldn't have turned out any other way. Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Sam Colby (Ben Rosenfeld) and Tracey (Madeline Zima) Sam's job to watch over the strange glass box in New York came to an abrupt end when both he and Tracey were consumed by a demon which burst outside of it. Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Tammy Preston (Chrysta Bell) A new partner for Gordon Cole, who's taken her on as a kind of protégé. Twin Peaks season 3: Who's back? Who's new? Janey-E Jones (Naomi Watts) The wife to Dougie Jones, the strange other Cooper, with the pair having a son together.

Perhaps because it's near impossible to really spoil anything produced by David Lynch, it looks as if the weight of viewership fell on Showtime's on-demand services, with Deadline also reporting the network saw the single biggest day and weekend of signups ever for its streaming service, Showtime Anytime and Showtime On Demand.

"In the world that we live in now, offering original programming that attracts new subscribers is our primary business objective," said David Nevins, President and CEO, Showtime Networks in a statement. "By that standard, the Twin Peaks premiere is the biggest single-night driver we’ve ever had."

Twin Peaks: It Is Happening Again trailer