Twin Peaks season 3: David Lynch says Fire Walk With Me is key to understanding the new episodes

The return of TV's cultiest cult show Twin Peaks is just around the bend - and, still, we barely know anything about it.

Just as David Lynch intended it, surely, though a recent interview with Variety at least gave fans a hint as to where to focus their energies: apparently, the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is key to understanding what's ahead.

The film, released in 1992, documented the last week in Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee)'s life, alongside an earlier incident in which a young FBI agent (Chris Isaak) disappeared while investigating the murder of a night-shift waitress in the town of Deer Meadow.

Of course, the entire idea behind the revival stems from perhaps the show's most iconic scene from season 1: the vision of an older Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) in the red room - 25 years older to be precise.

Alongside MacLachlan's Cooper, there are plenty of returning characters, including Madchen Amick's Shelly Johnson, Sherilyn Fenn's Audrey Horne, and Ray Wise's Leland Palmer; plenty of new additions, too, with over 200 characters seeing star-studded appearances from the likes of Laura Dern, Ashley Judd, Tim Roth, Naomi Watts, and Michael Cera.

Lynch himself will also return to play fan-favourite FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole, who Showtime CEO David Nevins let slip was a "pretty prominent" character in the new season.

All these clues don't amount to much, however, when Nevins added the additional warning that: "It's going to be very different this time around". The new season bears a far larger scope, with different narrative threads "in multiple locations in the US".

"I think he’s evolved to an even more extreme version of himself, but all of the [Lynch] themes are visible," Nevins continued. "He has certain ideas about the ideal of America. Not to relate it too much to the present, but he has certain ideas about Midwestern American wholesomeness. But I think he’s also incredibly aware of the flip side of it. I think David Lynch is a really relevant voice: What does it mean when we say, ‘Make America great again?’"

The new Twin Peaks will premiere at 2am on Monday 22nd May on Sky Atlantic and NOWTV, in a simulcast with the US airing on Showtime. The episode will then be shown again at 9pm on 23rd May. You can catch up now on season one and two via Sky Box Sets.