Leading up to the release of Twin Peaks: The Return, the Showtime publicity team released an electronic press kit around April 22, 2017. I saved images, videos and layouts from this kit on January 9, 2021. Since the kit is no longer available, let’s take a look a back at how the third season details were communicated.
TWIN PEAKS – ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT FROM SHOWTIME – PAGES 1-3
The kit opened with the red “Twin Peaks” logo against floating red drapes.
Next, the “It is happening again” tagline appeared under the Twin Peaks, which was a nod to The Giant’s iconic dialogue from episode 2.007 in the second season.
Finally, the date and time for the first episode, or part, appeared along with the Showtime logo in green.
Here is an alternate layout for the Twin Peaks logo with the date and time for Part 1.
The Twin Peaks logo and tagline were a .PNG file that was overlayed on the red drapes image.
The red drapes were also available as a separate image file.
The fonts used in the press kit were also embedded in a folder labeled “Fonts”
This is the bold version of the fonts used.
TWIN PEAKS – ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT FROM SHOWTIME – PAGES 4-6
After the intro screen, an image of the Great Northern Hotel above White Tail Falls appears on screen. In reality, this is the Salish Lodge & Spa and Snoqualmie Falls in Snoqualmie, Washington. The photo was most likely captured when the crew was shooting in Snoqualmie Valley between September to October 2015.
This page with the hotel zooms in closer to reveal the “25 Years Later” logo and short description about the third season.
Directed entirely by David Lynch, the new SHOWTIME 18-part limited event series picks up 25 years after the inhabitants of a quaint northwestern town were stunned by the shocking murder of their homecoming queen Laura Palmer. TWIN PEAKS is written and executive produced by series creators David Lynch, Mark Frost and is executive produced by Sabrina S. Sutherland
These image assets were also available in the press kit.
There is only one establishing shot for The Great Northern Hotel and falls in Part 1. This image was not in the press kit but I share for comparison sake. The establishing shot was captured at sunset which accounts for the warm glow falling on the hotel.
When selecting “Cast & Crew” at the top of the page, the description disappeared and only a close up of the hotel remained.
TWIN PEAKS – ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT FROM SHOWTIME – PAGES 7-13
The “Cast & Crew” page contained an image of a vintage television with the front of the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department featured on the screen.
You could scroll through all of the names of actors cast in the 18-part series. An asterisk indicated cast who were “returning to the world of Twin Peaks.”
There were three pages of cast members in the show.
The pages continued with a look at the crew members working on the show.
I’m so glad the crew was also included because the wonderful and strange world of Twin Peaks wouldn’t happen without them.
The departments highlighted included Production, Art Department, Make-Up, Make-Up Effects, Property Department, Assistant Directors, Script, Set Decoration, Camera, and Sound.
After the cast and crew credits, the television set remained on screen.
The television set was a separate asset that could be downloaded.
The front door image is similar to this establishing shot from Part 5 (except the overhead lamp is off).
TWIN PEAKS – ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT FROM SHOWTIME – PAGES 14-15
The camera zooms into the front doors of the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department when the “Parts” tab was selected.
This kit contained only the first four “Parts.” This was also an early glimpse at “episode titles” which were more like phrases.
- Part 1 – My log has a message for you
- Part 2 – The stars turn and a time presents itself
- Part 3 – Call for help
- Part 4 – … brings back some memories
Here is how the Parts image appeared superimposed over the Sheriff Department doors.
When selecting the “Gallery” tab, the Parts disappeared and we had a good look at the front doors.
Here is the image of the front doors with the evidence table seen through the glass. It’s an impossible shot since it doesn’t appear this way in the series.
TWIN PEAKS – ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT FROM SHOWTIME – GALLERY
The gallery page had multiple still images available to download and three teaser videos.
The key art with Laura Palmer on the Twin Peaks poster.
A behind the scenes shot of David Lynch directing James Marshall and Jake Wardle at the Roadhouse from Part 2.
FBI Deputy Director Gordon Cole and Special Agent Albert Rosenfield in Diane Evans’ apartment from Part 7.
The “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign from the behind-the-scene promo video. This was just after the cover was taken off the sign to reveal the artwork. This view of the sign is not seen in broadcasted episodes.
The key art with Special Agent Dale Cooper on a Twin Peaks poster.
Shelly and Norma behind the Double R Diner counter from Part 5.
FBI Chief of Staff Denise Bryson in her office from Part 4.
A publicity shot of cherry pie and a Double R Diner coffee mug.
There was one more image hidden from the gallery – David Lynch dressed as Gordon Cole sitting on a chair. A slice of cherry pie and a glass of water is seen on a nearby side table.
The three videos were teases for Angelo Badalamenti, Kyle MacLachlan and David Lynch returning to the series.
I love the teaser of Lynch eating the doughnut – it’s mesmerizing!
After the Gallery images cleared, we get a shot of the conference room table with evidence from Laura Palmer’s investigation.
The image of Laura Palmer’s evidence box as seen through the front doors.
TWIN PEAKS – ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT FROM SHOWTIME – PAGES 17-20
The last tab was for “Contacts” and included Laura Palmer’s homecoming queen photo taped to the lid of an evidence box.
The camera began zooming toward Laura Palmer’s eyes.
The individual evidence box image with Laura’s homecoming photo.
An alternate color version of the Laura Palmer evidence box image.
One more embedded file with the evidence box and a red “Twin Peaks” logo. It was hidden in the press kit folders.
As it approached her eye, Showtime publicity contacts appeared on the screen.
It lands on an extreme close up on Laura’s eye. The three contacts included publicity employees Amanda Cary (East Coast), Nicole Elice (West Coast) and Anamaria DeVega (Photography). This page also included a website address – Sho.com/Pressonline – which is no longer active.
This is the image of Laura Palmer’s eye with Showtime contacts.
TWIN PEAKS – ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT FROM SHOWTIME – VIDEOS
The various pages of this electronic press kit had video elements which contained either an alternate version of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” or the sound of wind. I combined all the videos into this two-minute segment on the Twin Peaks Blog YouTube channel.
I’m glad I saved all of these files as Twin Peaks: The Return is no longer found on the Paramount Press Express website.
The “alternate version of Laura Palmer’s Theme” used in the EPK is actually the Twin Peaks Theme (Falling) slowed down to 200% without affecting the pitch, with some additional eq and reverb added on top.