Not surprisingly, Twin Peaks dominated Showtime’s TCA executive session. At the top, Showtime Networks president David Nevins announced that the followup series from David Lynch and Mark Frost is slated to start production in September. Lynch is set to direct all episodes. He and Frost actually wrote one long script. Lynch will shoot the series continuously as a movie, and later cut it into episodes. Originally envisioned as being 9 episodes, the series will likely run longer but the exact number of episodes is still in flux and won’t be known until after filming is completed, Nevins said.

Nevins declined comment on castings for Twin Peaks beyond the announced return of star Kyle MacLachlan. (the casting for the series is handled by Lynch’s company), but said that “you should be optimistic that the people you want to be there will be there, in addition to some surprises.”

Originally slated for a 2017 premiere, there is hope that Twin Peaks could be ready for 2016 but there is no pressure on Lynch, who has complete creative control over the project. “I’ll take it when it’s ready,” Nevins said. “I hope that’s sooner rather than later.”

Nevins also addressed the controversy surrounding Lynch’s temporary exit from the series over what the filmmaker had referred to as contract/budget issues. “I never had doubt we would get him back, Twin Peaks is a huge priority for us,” Nevins said. “It became clear it would take more than nine episodes, which we had planned and budgeted for. We had to sort that out. Lynch wanted to direct all episodes, and we wanted him to direct all episodes. We are looking to be in great shape.”