Edit: As to the second question, I don’t think they’d return Peaks to episodic television.
I think you're right about that. And definitely not network television. But surely not all Showtime shows are filmed in their entirety before they're released, are they? Couldn't they have some episodes in production as they're releasing others.
As long as Lynch is going to direct all the material, I think it’s way more practical both in terms of time and budget to block shoot (i.e., shoot all the episodes at once, shooting out locations/actors as they go). Otherwise they’d be running back and forth to various locations, from Washington to California, etc. I can’t envision any upside in shooting on a traditional episodic schedule, it would just increase travel time and setups unnecessarily.
Ah ok. I'd love it if they could figure out a way to do this, maybe film exteriors first and on location shooting first, then do the rest on soundstages in LA. Sort of like how they did Season 1, even 2. Then we might get it sooner rather than waiting 6 months for Lynch to shoot everything first, then another year or however long in post-production.