The airdate for the highly anticipated continuation of Twin Peaks has been set for May.
The US broadcaster Showtime confirmed it would launch the series on May 21 in the US.
![Sherilyn Fenn and Kyle MacLachlan in the original <i>Twin Peaks</I>. Both have returned for the new series.](/web/20170112220538im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/z/s/s/z/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtoptj.png/1484011707023.jpg)
The streaming platform Stan, which owns the Australian rights to the series, will stream the series at the same time as the US which is May 22 in Australia.
Showtime also confirmed that a total of 18 one-hour episodes would air.
Until now no final decision had been made on the duration of the series, with Showtime leaving the final decision to its creator, auter filmmaker David Lynch.
The continuation - despite being called a "reboot" by many media outlets - picks up the story 25 years after the events of the original series.
The original series aired in 1990 and 1991, and was followed in 1992 by the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
It opened with the discovery of a body - town homecoming queen Laura Palmer, played by Sheryl Lee - which left the sleepy town of Twin Peaks shocked and grief-stricken.
Lynch said today he was persuaded to rekindle the series by his original collaborator Mark Frost.
But the 70-year-old filmmaker said it took time to come around to the idea.
"Always we were filled with doubts," he said.
Filming the series at its original locations, including the Pacific north-west town of Snoqualmie, Washington, was "both the same and different," he said.
"If you go back to a town and revisit again many things remain the same but also you feel a change."
Lynch conceded he was not deeply engaged with the online fan base for the series, and was not overly aware of the buzz the series had generated.
"I am too in the middle [of production] and I don't go out much," he said.
Lynch also confirmed his belief the original series was axed because the mystery of "who killed Laura Palmer" was resolved.
"Who killed Laura Palmer was a question that we did not really want to answer," he said. "That mystery was the goose that laid these little golden eggs; we were told that we had to wrap that up and it never got going after that."