‘Twin Peaks’: 2 actors were in love, storyline tweaked

“Twin Peaks” season 3 is finally going to make its debut in May, and mysteries since 26 years ago will finally be solved. Meanwhile, Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne) recently revealed how the off-screen romance of two stars led to a tweak in the storyline.

In an interview, Fenn says that the sparks of love were initially supposed to fly between Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Joan Chen (Jocelyn Packard) instead of her. “There was no plan, Dale Cooper ended up at the hotel, so put her with Audrey. We weren’t supposed to be together, but after we were together.”

She said when this happened, “his girlfriend, Lara Flynn Boyle, kiboshes an astonishing thing.” Fenn said that she talked about this with showrunner David Lynch. “I remember saying, ‘David [Lynch], is this how it goes? An actor complains, because she’s the girlfriend, and then you change?’ Then she started smoking in scenes, and doing strange things, I think she danced in a scene.”

In the show, it was shown that Cooper harbours a crush on 18-year-old Audrey Horne, who is the daughter of local businessman Benjamin Horne (Richard Beymer). The attraction appears to be mutual in the show. However, Cooper rebuffs Audrey’s advances when she turns up on his bed at his hotel.

Fenn said that she was upset knowing her character was moved away from Cooper. “He (Kyle MacLachlan) was saying, ‘No, her character is too young for me.’ Okay, meanwhile he is with a girlfriend, I’m 24-25, his girlfriend is 19, right, get it? Madchen [Amick] is 17, and then they bring in Heather, who is younger [too]. Whatever, silly.”

In the finale episodes, Annie Blackburn (Heather Graham) became the love interest of Cooper. She replaced Lynch’s intended romance between Agent Cooper and Audrey.

Fenn also said that her on-screen chemistry was one of the reasons why her romantic angle with Cooper was chopped off later. “At some point, David said, ‘Are you in love with Kyle?’ I said, ‘God no! No! Not even a little! Not at all, but Audrey thinks he’s the bees knees.”

Sherilyn Fenn made the revelation in an interview with Twin Peaks Unwrapped. The interview was pulled off sometime after its release for reasons unknown. Meanwhile, Alternativenation.net has transcribed her comments from the interview.

“Twin Peaks” season 3 air date has been announced. The show will premiere on May 21 at 9:00 p.m. ET on Showtime in the US. In Australia, the show will be streamed on Stan at the same time (1:00 p.m. on May 22).