Last spring, David Lynch offered up fans one major piece of “Twin Peaks” information — the full, 217 names long cast list for the revival. From main roles to cameos, we found out every face we’re going to see across the full eighteen episode return, but there was a key figure missing: Michael J. Anderson aka The Man From Another Place. While he only appeared in four episodes of the original series, and in the prequel film, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,” his impact was such that many assumed he would return. However, it would appear that the world outside of “Twin Peaks,” is just as weird as it is inside.
Fans of the show may already know this news since it’s quite “old,” but if it passed you by, Armstrong addressed his absence last summer, and essentially accused Lynch and co. of choosing big name stars over him. Here’s what he had to say in a since deleted Facebook post, captured by Lynchland:
That’s one side of the story, and Anderson’s caustic feelings haven’t lessened since, as he accused Lynch of some pretty unpublishable things last summer, and posted earlier this month that he never really liked the show anyway, except of course, for his performance. He wrote:
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I couldn’t watch TP when it originally aired because it was so BORING. Every time I tuned in, it was people talking in a room. That’s it. And if I stayed long enough to hear what they were saying, they would be talking about NOTHING. I figured out that I couldn’t follow the plot, (or had to make one up) because there WAS NO PLOT. A man went to a town to investigate a murder. That’s it. Nothing else ever happens. Just people talking in rooms. And all this taking NEVER advanced the murder investigation ONE BIT. I liked the part that I was in, (because I was in it), but it still didn’t make a hoot of sense. Hard to watch.
For his part, Lynch has stayed mum on the matter, but as Mashable discovered, he did talk about Anderson’s final line in the original series, “When you see me again, it won’t be me.”
“That it’s more true than you think [laughs],” the director told Rolling Stone. Indeed, the first episode sees a tree (?!) declaring, “I am the arm, and I sound like this” which seems like a simple (and totally strange) way to usurp Anderson’s part (and one of his iconic lines).
So, there’s the oddball backstory as to why The Man From Another Place aka Mike’s Arm isn’t back. Seems oddly fitting with the aura of “Twin Peaks.”