What happened to Donna? (Casting SPOILERS)

[Panapaok]

I was thinking that Jane Adams could be possibly playing Donna. As for Sheryl Lee, I think she's just playing Laura. Maybe Maddy too. I doubt she's a new character.

[LostInTheMovies]

I ended up liking Kelly more than LFB and I haven't seen her elsewhere, but I'm glad she's not reprising the role.
Regardless of one's opinion on the metaphysical fan theories about her change, I think we can all agree that even just the way Donna was written in FWWM underlines that Laura's death was a major turning point in her life. So to me, even just 100% figuratively, Kelly represents Donna's distant past, an innocence she can't go back to. Coherently, unless that happened to be exactly her character's trajectory (100% got over that trauma, went back to her previous self), I'm glad they're moving forward instead of going back...

That's a good point.

[LostInTheMovies]

I ended up liking Kelly more than LFB and I haven't seen her elsewhere, but I'm glad she's not reprising the role.
Regardless of one's opinion on the metaphysical fan theories about her change, I think we can all agree that even just the way Donna was written in FWWM underlines that Laura's death was a major turning point in her life. So to me, even just 100% figuratively, Kelly represents Donna's distant past, an innocence she can't go back to. Coherently, unless that happened to be exactly her character's trajectory (100% got over that trauma, went back to her previous self), I'm glad they're moving forward instead of going back...

That's a good point.

[Mr. Reindeer]

I know that Lara Flynn Boyle isn't well, but it's a little strange we've not heard much from her either. I wonder if when they asked her back (if they actually did), they told her some details about the plot, but first had her sign an NDA?

I don't think it's strange. She has avoided speaking publicly about the show since the day the original series ended. I mean, that in and of itself is strange, since it was a career-making show for her - but obviously she's bitter about the experience for whatever reasons. Her recent silence is completely in line with her behavior of the past two and a half decades. I wouldn't read too much into it.

[N. Needleman]

I don't know that she's bitter about it, but I understand she is somewhat reclusive these days.

[laughingpinecone]

I don't know that she's bitter about it, but I understand she is somewhat reclusive these days.

I do know that it's almost impossible to find an old picture of her and MacLachlan on a social media platform that's not followed by plenty of insults to her person, so... understandably bitter, in my book.

[N. Needleman]

I don't think Lara Flynn Boyle ever particularly paid attention to, or probably even knew of, the issues fandom has had with her. I'm not sure that stories about LFB and Peaks even circulated very much outside small fan circles until the 2000s, as her career began to decline. But her reputation did not come out of nowhere or only for TP, it continued for a number of years after as she became more famous for other work.

I can't judge her that much for what happened - I do think she was a very, very young woman at the time who was influenced throughout her career (before, during and after Peaks) by various people who didn't necessarily have what was best for her at heart, and I think it damaged her career terribly. I think what's become of her is sad, but I don't think it has anything at all to do with the TP fanbase.

[madeleineferguson]

I know that Lara Flynn Boyle isn't well, but it's a little strange we've not heard much from her either. I wonder if when they asked her back (if they actually did), they told her some details about the plot, but first had her sign an NDA?

I don't think it's strange. She has avoided speaking publicly about the show since the day the original series ended. I mean, that in and of itself is strange, since it was a career-making show for her - but obviously she's bitter about the experience for whatever reasons. Her recent silence is completely in line with her behavior of the past two and a half decades. I wouldn't read too much into it.

It hasn't seemed to me like she was bitter about Twin Peaks, but maybe about Kyle MacLachlan. That has always struck me as an incredibly difficult break up, at least for her. Very tough lesson to learn for such a young woman: don't shit where you eat.

There's a scene in Episode 27 in which Cooper has gathered Audrey, Donna and Shelly at the police station and is warning them. The tension between Lara and Kyle is palpable, almost uncomfortable. She yawns while he's talking and has her body turned away from him, and generally avoids looking directly at him. In that scene, LFB isn't acting Donna, she's just herself.

I'm sure it's all water under the bridge now, and had nothing to do with LFB reportedly passing on a return. But I do think LFB's messy break up with Kyle was a big part of why she distanced herself from Twin Peaks for so many years.

[Gabriel]

It hasn't seemed to me like she was bitter about Twin Peaks, but maybe about Kyle MacLachlan. That has always struck me as an incredibly difficult break up, at least for her. Very tough lesson to learn for such a young woman: don't shit where you eat.

There's a scene in Episode 27 in which Cooper has gathered Audrey, Donna and Shelly at the police station and is warning them. The tension between Lara and Kyle is palpable, almost uncomfortable. She yawns while he's talking and has her body turned away from him, and generally avoids looking directly at him. In that scene, LFB isn't acting Donna, she's just herself.

I'm sure it's all water under the bridge now, and had nothing to do with LFB reportedly passing on a return. But I do think LFB's messy break up with Kyle was a big part of why she distanced herself from Twin Peaks for so many years.

Perhaps, more than that, it's a 'school reunion' thing. Some people had a great time at school and would love to see old friends again years later. I left school 30 years ago and detested the place. I've not stayed in touch with anyone from that era. If I received a reunion invitation, I'd ignore or decline it. I've moved on with my life and I'm happy where I am. I'd be very uncomfortable revisiting a place and people I don't care for – even the nice people have associations with bad times.

Look at Bill Murray with Ghostbusters. He could have had a massive paycheque for Ghostbusters 3 years ago, but he clearly felt he didn't want to do it. Ghostbusters was a big step in his career, but he had moved on – he was notoriously unhappy with Ghostbusters II. That they're doing a remake rather than a film about a different group of Ghostbusters in a different city is disappointing though.

So, when it comes to Donna, I'm torn. I really like the character in the movie and season one. I didn't find the character redefinition as jarring as I remembered it being when I originally watched the show, but I felt it derailed the rather fun teen detective aspect of the show that had been running until then.

If Lara Flynn Boyle decided not to return, fair enough.

[Mr. Reindeer]

There's a scene in Episode 27 in which Cooper has gathered Audrey, Donna and Shelly at the police station and is warning them. The tension between Lara and Kyle is palpable, almost uncomfortable. She yawns while he's talking and has her body turned away from him, and generally avoids looking directly at him. In that scene, LFB isn't acting Donna, she's just herself.

Ha, I never noticed/thought of that before. Was that scene shot after they'd broken up? I just rewatched the scene - I choose to believe it was an acting choice (Donna is in a bad mood after learning that Ben might be her father). If LFB was acting that way only because of personal friction, that's wildly unprofessional. (I also find it hard to believe that Stephen Gyllenhaal, one of the more hands-on directors in the last batch of episodes, would have tolerated such behavior).

I'm sure it's all water under the bridge now, and had nothing to do with LFB reportedly passing on a return. But I do think LFB's messy break up with Kyle was a big part of why she distanced herself from Twin Peaks for so many years.

There are also a lot of stories about how LFB sort of felt like she'd been sold a bill of goods by Lynch & Frost - she signed on as the young female lead, but in both the scripts and the general public opinion, Audrey quickly overshadowed Donna as the sexier and more interesting character. I think that that jealousy of Fenn/Audrey contributed to her bitterness at the time far more than the relationship with Kyle, and was underlying a lot of her worst behavior on the show. But we'll never really know, will we? We only have other people's sides of the story, because LFB clearly doesn't want to talk about that time.

[Agent Sam Stanley]

I really don't think there's any 'bitterness' from her part. She's just moved on. She doesn't care.
I think she looks at TP as a job she did a long time ago at a very early stage of her career and that's about it. It was never that special to her.
Lara Flynn Boyle is married and sort of retired from the business these days. I'm sure she would be on board if the money was interesting enough. But I don't think it was, so she passed.

[Agent Sam Stanley]

There's a scene in Episode 27 in which Cooper has gathered Audrey, Donna and Shelly at the police station and is warning them. The tension between Lara and Kyle is palpable, almost uncomfortable. She yawns while he's talking and has her body turned away from him, and generally avoids looking directly at him. In that scene, LFB isn't acting Donna, she's just herself.

Interesting, I always thought Sherilyn Fenn is the one looking kind of bitter in that scene. Lara and Madchen are at least sort of concerned about Cooper's warning and Sherilyn just sits there like "yeah whatever". Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it's possible as I believe Sherilyn was already disappointed with the show's creative decisions at that point.
I also didn't know Lara and Kyle had broken up when they shot that scene.

[Agent Sam Stanley]

I'm still choosing to believe Ashley Judd is Donna

I believe Arbogast already confirmed Ashley Judd is not playing Donna or any of the Haywards.

[Agent Sam Stanley]

I thought Kelly deputised well enough in FWWM, but it’s worth pointing that she is apparently infamous in West Wing circles for what is perceived to be a terrible performance in its first season. She wasn’t even given the dignity of being written out – she was Harriet-ed, funnily enough.

Really? I've always liked Moira's work. She's great in FWWM and I love her performance in Love, Lies and Murder.
Fans of One Tree Hill said she played a very interesting character in that show too.
Wouldn't expect a terrible performance from her. It's possible she wasn't into acting anymore.

[Mr. Reindeer]

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.