PSYCH: James Roday & Sheryl Lee on a Pie-worthy Homage to Twin Peaks

James Roday has been obsessed with Twin Peaks since its heyday in the early ‘90’s. In fact, he is a self-professed Twin Peaks super-fan and has been pushing for the day that Psych could have a Twin Peaks-esque episode ever since Psych premiered.

To Roday’s undying delight, it was only five years in the making – which was perfect timing as the Psych homage ended up being broadcast exactly 20 years since Twin Peaks first graced the television screen. Due to his passion over it, Roday even co-wrote the script for the episode along with Bill Callahan, and worked hard to incorporate as many references to the original Twin Peaks series as possible. He sheepishly confessed that he relied on Callahan to make a cohesive storyline out of all the cookie crumbs that he insisted on layering throughout the episode. In fact, one of Roday’s prized Easter-egg moments is the chocolate bunny that sits on his desk at the beginning of the episode, an obscure callback to a reference that Agent Cooper made about holding a box of chocolate bunnies in Twin Peaks.

In the episode “Dual Spires,” airing tonight on USA Network, fake psychic detective Shawn Spencer and his partner Gus are invited by email to a cinnamon festival in a remote mountain village. However, just as soon as they have sampled the heavenly pie, a murder is uncovered and Shawn and Gus are on the hunt to track down a deadly killer before he strikes again. When asked why he chose a cinnamon festival, Roday said that it was a reference that Shawn and Gus had made early in the series that they attend cinnamon festivals and the absurdity felt appropriate to tie into this fun mystery story. It was a way of mimicking the cherry pie fascination of Twin Peaks, but by putting a decidedly Psych spin on it.

During a conference call with NiceGirlsTV, Roday enthusiastically shared that “Dual Spires” will be “48 minutes of bliss for Twin Peaks fans.” Though he was quick to reassure that Twin Peaks fans would be just as pleased with the comedic melding of Twin Peaks humor with the usual Psych shenanigans and physical comedy.

This episode was not only a homage to a show that Roday loves, but it was a chance to invite some of the original cast of Twin Peaks to venture back into the quirky world that captured the imagination of television audiences and began a new era of television with out-of-the-box dark humor blended with terrifying mystery.

In a remarkable achievement, Psych was also able to lure back seven of the original cast members from Twin Peaks to reprise or reimagine new roles for the episode dubbed “Dual Spires” by Roday’s co-star Maggie Lawson. Making special appearances are Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Dana Ashbrook, Sherilyn Fenn, Robyn Lively, Lenny Von Dohlen, and Catherine Coulson.

Due to a fortunate run in with Dana Ashbrook years ago, Roday and he have been friends ever since, so it was a lock getting him to appear in “Dual Spires.” Roday then avidly pursued getting Sheryl Lee and Sherilyn Fenn as he could not image Twin Peaks without them and because Ray Wise had already made an appearance on Psych it was an easy deal getting him to come back and reprise his earlier role as well. Lenny Von Dohlen, Robyn Lively and Catherine Coulson were also must-have faces from a show that made such an indelible imprint audiences. It was just too rich that they were all available and willing to join Psych for this fun little homage episode.

Sheryl Lee shared that for her, the chance to join in “Dual Spires” was a bit surreal, but she loved the chance to reunite with some of her Twin Peaks cast mates. She also thought working with the Psych cast was simply wonderful as everyone was so warm and welcoming, which made the entire experience a delight. Lee was also grateful that this time she was not the one being wrapped in cold, wet plastic but had the chance to play one of the mysterious inhabitants of “Dual Spires” instead. Roday added that that he did his best to make sure that the scene at the lake when the body is discovered closely replicated the original scene in Twin Peaks as that visual set the tone for the remainder of the underlying creepiness in the episode.

Finally, in addition to the original cast members, Roday ecstatically shared that they were able to recruit songstress Julee Cruise to re-record the opening title sequence for Psych especially for the “Dual Spires” episode. It was the final crowning achievement on a love-letter to Twin Peaks. The entire “Dual Spires” episode was the ultimate fan-boy experience and Roday hopes that both fans of Psych and Twin Peaks will enjoy it as much as he did in bringing it to fruition.

Sheryl chimed in to add that the episode is an “incredible gift that James and everyone at Psych gave us.” It touched her and the other Twin Peaks cast members more than they expected, and they are grateful for the chance to reunite after all these years.

Finally, because the episode was already jammed to the brim with an extra seven minutes of footage, Roday encourages fans to get the fifth season DVD when it becomes available to see the 8 additional minutes of footage that was filmed and did not make it into the episode. He promised that it is worth buying just for those exclusive 8 minutes of footage.

“Dual Spires” airs Wednesday, December 1 at 10/9c on USA Network.