This New 'Twin Peaks' Season 3 Trailer Contains Actual Footage Of People Doing Things

The marketing for the hotly anticipated and long-delayed third season of Twin Peaks has been a masterclass in trolling, with each new preview offering only tiny snippets of footage, virtually no dialogue, and no indication of story. It's frustrating and baffling and totally bizarre and, well, appropriate for Twin Peaks in every possible way.

The latest Twin Peaks season 3 trailer has arrived and it offers more of the same. Heck, if offers a lot more of it! This nearly wordless montage of characters doing things is somehow creepy and effective, despite offering up a whole lot of nothing.

Like past trailers, this one cycles through characters and locations, some familiar and some not, while unsettling noise punctuates the entire preview. When characters do speak, it's presented entirely out of context or as incidental chatter, like FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole (played by series co-creator and director David Lynch) shouting "Albert!" while sitting next to FBI Agent Albert Rosenfield (played by the late Miguel Ferrer). The more hardcore fans may be able to pick out more from this footage, but I'm a Twin Peaks lightweight – I never finished the divisive second season.

What I can tell you is that Twin Peaks season 3 is written and produced by original series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost and it will return on May 21, 2017 on Showtime, with two episodes premiering back-to-back. Immediately after the premiere, Showtime subscribers will have access to episodes three and four through Showtime Anytime and Showtime On Demand. Those episodes will then air the following week, with the rest of the season following in one-hour episodes.

Interestingly, Lynch chose to shoot all 18 episodes as one long "movie," deciding where to create episode breaks in the editing room. This is a strange choice (one that feels perfectly suited to Lynch's experimental style), but it could create some odd pacing. Hence, Showtime's somewhat strange premiere roll-out, which feels built to ease people into the show.

Here's the official synopsis, which doesn't really describe anything:

Widely considered one of the most groundbreaking and influential broadcast series of all time, TWIN PEAKS followed the inhabitants of a quaint northwestern town who were stunned after their homecoming queen Laura Palmer was shockingly murdered. The town's sheriff welcomed the help of FBI agent Dale Cooper, who came to town to investigate the case. As Cooper conducted his search for Laura's killer, the town's secrets were gradually exposed. The mystery that ensued set off an eerie chain of events that plunged the inhabitants of Twin Peaks into a darker examination of their very existence. Twenty-five years later, the story continues...