What happened to Donna? (Casting SPOILERS)

[Jerry Horne]

It's also possible that Moira was asked and elected not to do the series for religious reasons. I've read that she's very Catholic, and she had to confer with her priest because she was conflicted about appearing in FWWM. It doesn't look like she's appeared in much if any R-rated material since FWWM.

First thing that came to my mind.

I wonder if her priest ever saw FWWM?

[Panapaok]

Question to those who spectated the filming in WA:

Is there any other concrete info which suggests that Lisa Coronado might be Donna, besides the fact that she looks like Moira Kelly?

[madeleineferguson]

It's also possible that Moira was asked and elected not to do the series for religious reasons. I've read that she's very Catholic, and she had to confer with her priest because she was conflicted about appearing in FWWM. It doesn't look like she's appeared in much if any R-rated material since FWWM.

Wow! Never knew that about Moira Kelly. I'm kind of shocked that no reporters have reached out to her for a comment on the show. I don't believe we've heard one word from her.

[Agent Sam Stanley]

Question to those who spectated the filming in WA:

Is there any other concrete info which suggests that Lisa Coronado might be Donna, besides the fact that she looks like Moira Kelly?

Not really. Someone asked her about it on Twitter and she said "I'm sorry, I can't say" with a smile. Some people thought she was using the smile to give us a hint.

[FauxOwl]

It's also possible that Moira was asked and elected not to do the series for religious reasons. I've read that she's very Catholic, and she had to confer with her priest because she was conflicted about appearing in FWWM. It doesn't look like she's appeared in much if any R-rated material since FWWM.

She appeared in "Little Odessa" a couple of years after FWWM... that was very much rated-R and she had a scene arguably more explicit than the one in FWWM. She hasn't worked much of late though... her last credit was in 2013. Her last feature film credit was in 2007 which was an R rated film, so I doubt that's an issue. Maybe she has just moved on from show business ala Ontkean (if that's what the deal with Ontkean is).

[Mr. Reindeer]

Just happened to be rereading Dugpa's excellent 2007 interview with Charles Lauzirika regarding the Gold Box set and ran across an interesting (irrelevant, at this point, but interesting) tidbit: Lauzirika says he "came close" to getting an interview with LFB for Secrets from Another Place, but there were scheduling issues.

Of course, LFB's agent/manager might have simply been jerking Lauzirika's chain, but it's interesting that they didn't outright tell him to take a walk. Wow. It would have been phenomenal to hear LFB's perspective on the show after all all these years. Missed opportunities...

The interview: http://dugpa.com/interviews/gold-box-in ... lauzirika/

(Completely unrelated, but I LOVE that Lynch insisted that Sheryl had to be in the doc, and made the call to make sure it happened )

[Jonah]

I had thought thought maybe Jane Adams might be playing a recast Donna, but now that I see pictures of Lisa Coronado I agree that's a strong possibility. Not ruling out a surprise LFB cameo though.

[AXX°N N.]

I LOVE that Lynch insisted that Sheryl had to be in the doc, and made the call to make sure it happened

That's so precious.

[Agent Sam Stanley]

Donna moved out from Twin Peaks a long time ago and became a career driven business woman

[claaa7]

It's also possible that Moira was asked and elected not to do the series for religious reasons. I've read that she's very Catholic, and she had to confer with her priest because she was conflicted about appearing in FWWM. It doesn't look like she's appeared in much if any R-rated material since FWWM.

Wow! Never knew that about Moira Kelly. I'm kind of shocked that no reporters have reached out to her for a comment on the show. I don't believe we've heard one word from her.

i would actually prefer Moira Kelly to reprise Donna over Lara Flynn Boyle, especially as she looks today with all her botched plastic surgeries.. sorry to say.

here's a quote from Moira about having pre-marital sex in her early career - "According to a TV Guide interview, before taking on her role in Daybreak, Kelly once again asked her priest for advice: "Being a Catholic, I wondered if it would be against my religion to play a girl who has premarital sex." The priest told her "it was okay, as long as my artistic intentions were true and I wasn't doing it for the notoriety or the money."[3]" (from Wiki)

EDIT - also according to Wikipedia, she has a role in an upcoming 2017 film made for TV called "Deadly Sororority" where she plays a professor

[Fire-blog-with-me]

I am hoping Donna will be present because, though she is intimately tied to the Laura arc, I feel that she was a character valuable on her own and intrinsically able to function outside of Laura (though her best self is when Laura hovers in and out of her stories).

Even then, thinking about it from a realistic point of view, Laura was Donna's best friend since childhood and the two were nearly inseparable throughout the formative years of their lives. Once Laura was murdered, of course Donna felt a shock and devastating life change. And while (25-27 years later) yes, Donna might have moved on with her life... her best friend was still murdered brutally/ritualistically and even darker than that, by her own father. There is absolutely a way to incorporate her into The Return organically through this.

So what I am hoping for is that Donna will be back but played by a new/third actress. That way it is indicative of a larger nature to the character (Donna=Mercurial) and also does not leave either LFB or Moira Kelly as outliers. If LFB returned or if Moira Kelly returned then whoever did not return would become an exception to the rule, a strange and noticeable diversion. Up until now that wasn't a problem because there was only the Series and FWWM so two separate Donnas for two separate entities is fine, but once you add a third in...

So a new actress would establish a pattern or rule that Donna is fluid and malleable, taking a different shape to fit the different worlds of the different iterations of the saga. And that would be the best and most beautiful option to me anyway.

On a semi related note, I know we all love Gersten and are excited for her to return but I gotta show some love to Harriet Hayward! I really wish she would have returned for the new series too...

[Mr. Reindeer]

On a semi related note, I know we all love Gersten and are excited for her to return but I gotta show some love to Harriet Hayward! I really wish she would have returned for the new series too...

I agree with this! But it looks like Wallenfels only did a few subsequent gigs in front of the camera with the last in 2004. I'd bet that DKL tried to track her down.

[Snailhead]

Lisa Coronado, I think.

I'm really stoked at the possibility of Donna being re-cast yet again, it would be very in line with the spirit of the show and film, and that she has a big part. Say what you want about the character in the original series, but she's important and would be really fascinating to see as a middle-aged woman!

[Fire-blog-with-me]

On a semi related note, I know we all love Gersten and are excited for her to return but I gotta show some love to Harriet Hayward! I really wish she would have returned for the new series too...

I agree with this! But it looks like Wallenfels only did a few subsequent gigs in front of the camera with the last in 2004. I'd bet that DKL tried to track her down.

Definitely! I'm certain Lynch and Frost would have included her if possible, especially Lynch! (Gotta love how he perennially returns to characters that the rest of the creative team forgot about...Harriet, Sylvia, Ronette!)

I think my only hope now is that Harriet gets some decent coverage in The Final Dossier and perhaps mentioned in dialogue/implied in The Return.

[scottythep]

It would make sense if she has been recast. That way Donna is ALWAYS played by a new actress - in every iteration of the show