Twin Peaks season 3

*Twin Peaks*
Twin Peaks
Season 3
	Promotional poster featuring Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper
Starring	Kyle MacLachlan
No. of episodes	18
Release
Original network	Showtime
Original release	May 21 –; September 3, 2017
Season chronology
	← Previous; Season 2
	List of episodes

The third season of the surrealist mystery-horror drama television series Twin Peaks, billed as Twin Peaks: The Return and Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series, premiered on May 21, 2017, and concluded on September 3, 2017. The 18-episode season was broadcast in the United States on Showtime. It marked the Twin Peaks franchise's return to television after an absence of over 25 years, and continued storylines from the first two seasons (1990–91) and their part-prequel, part-sequel theatrical film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). The show's co-creators David Lynch and Mark Frost returned to write the third season, with Lynch directing every episode.

Set 25 years after the events of the original series, the third season picks up from the second season's cliffhanger ending, when FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) was trapped in a supernatural realm and a doppelgänger—host to the evil spirit Bob—assumed his identity in the natural world. The doppelgänger's efforts to prevent Cooper from escaping create a third, amnesiac version of Cooper, who struggles to recover his past while fending off the Las Vegas criminal underworld. Cooper's old friends at the FBI investigate a string of crimes perpetrated by the doppelgänger, as well as the mysterious death of a South Dakota librarian who studied paranormal phenomena. Finally, the residents of Twin Peaks, Washington, contend with darker forces influencing the town and the generational fallout from the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), who left long-lost clues to Cooper's predicament before her death.

The season garnered critical acclaim, with praise for its unconventional narrative structure, visual invention, and performances.^[1] Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, and Esquire named it the best television show of 2017.^[2] In December 2019, Vulture critics named Twin Peaks the best television series of the 2010s.^[3] Some critics have also sought to label The Return as a film, with film journal Cahiers du cinéma naming it the best film of the decade,^[4] and the 2022 Sight & Sound critics' poll voting it the 152nd-best film in history.^[5]

^ Cite error: The named reference Rotten Tomatoes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference bestof2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Seitz, Matt Zoller; Chaney, Jen; VanArendonk, Kathryn; Bastien, Angelica Jade; Heller, Chris; and Koski, Genevieve (December 18, 2019). "What Did We Just Watch? A not-so-abridged guide to Prestige, Peak, and every other kind of TV from the past decade". Vulture. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
^ Goldberg, Matt (December 6, 2019). "Cahiers du Cinéma Heralds 'Twin Peaks: The Return' as the Best Movie of the 2010s". Collider. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
^ "The Greatest Films of All Time". BFI. Archived from the original on October 26, 2013. Retrieved February 18, 2025.

[Rotten_Tomatoes-1] Cite error: The named reference Rotten Tomatoes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[bestof2017-2] Cite error: The named reference bestof2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] Seitz, Matt Zoller; Chaney, Jen; VanArendonk, Kathryn; Bastien, Angelica Jade; Heller, Chris; and Koski, Genevieve (December 18, 2019). "What Did We Just Watch? A not-so-abridged guide to Prestige, Peak, and every other kind of TV from the past decade". Vulture. Retrieved December 22, 2019.

[4] Goldberg, Matt (December 6, 2019). "Cahiers du Cinéma Heralds 'Twin Peaks: The Return' as the Best Movie of the 2010s". Collider. Retrieved December 6, 2019.

[:8-5] "The Greatest Films of All Time". BFI. Archived from the original on October 26, 2013. Retrieved February 18, 2025.

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