It’s been a “damn fine” year for admirers of the early-1990s ABC TV series Twin Peaks: the entire series (and the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me theatrical film prequel) was released on blu-ray discs in July, and now comes word that the show will return on the Showtime network in 2016, with series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost on board to write every episode with Lynch directing.

That is just terrific news for those who enjoyed the show (it was inconsistent in quality, but easily half the episodes were among the best that TV has ever offered), and particularly good news that both Lynch and Frost will be writing the episodes.

In addition, the show might be renewed for more episodes thereafter, according to reports. No announcement was made regarding which past cast members will appear in the upcoming restart, but a Tweet by Kyle McLaughlin, who played Twin Peaks protagonist Agent Cooper, on Monday stated, “Better fire up that percolator and find my black suit 🙂 #Twinpeaks”.

Showtime will re-air the original series before the show returns with new episodes. The final episodes of the series’ second season had set up several plot elements that the show would have explored in its third season, and those matters were left as loose ends when ABC canceled it. USA Today reports Frost said that the Showtime series will be a continuation, not a sequel, set in the present day, and will resolve the elements left hanging at the end of the second season:

“It’s not a reboot, it’s not a remake; it’s a continuation, and we plan to get to the bottom of almost everything we put on the table,” Frost says.

I consider Frost’s participation as cowriter to be particularly good news. In his film work without Frost, Lynch has ranged from brilliant (Blue Velvet, A Straight Story) to frustratingly incoherent (Mulholland Drive), whereas Frost’s novels (his “Arthur Conan Doyle” occult mysteries and his “Paladin Prophecy” young adult series) have been solid genre work, highly entertaining and well-plotted with good ideas and values behind them. The two men’s talents meshed well in Twin Peaks, and there’s good reason to think that they will make a decent go of it with the new Showtime series.