''Twin Peaks'' is an American

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

serial drama In television and radio programming, a serial is a show that has a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode-by-episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the complete run of ...

television series created by

Mark Frost Mark Frost (born November 25, 1953) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film-and-television producer and director. He is the co-creator of the mystery television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and was a writer and executive story ...

and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 for a third season on Showtime. The series follows an investigation, headed by FBI Special Agent

Dale Cooper Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Dale Bartholomew Cooper, portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan, is a fictional character who is the protagonist of ABC's and Showtime's television series ''Twin Peaks''. He also plays a supporting role in ...

(

Kyle MacLachlan Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in '' Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...

) and local Sheriff Harry S. Truman ( Michael Ontkean), into the murder of

homecoming queen Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...

Laura Palmer (

Sheryl Lee Sheryl Lynn Lee (born April 22, 1967) is a German-born American film, stage, and television actress. After studying acting in college, Lee relocated to Seattle, Washington to work in theater, where she was cast by David Lynch as Laura Palmer and ...

) in the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington. The show's narrative draws on elements of detective fiction, but its uncanny tone, supernatural elements, and campy, melodramatic portrayal of eccentric characters also draws from American

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

and horror tropes. Like much of Lynch's work, it is distinguished by surrealism, offbeat humor, and distinctive

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to foc ...

. The score was composed by Angelo Badalamenti with Lynch. The original run was followed by the 1992 feature film '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'', which serves as a prequel to the series. The initial success of the series sparked a media franchise, leading to the release of several tie-in books, including ''

The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer ''The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer'' is a 1990 spin-off novel from the television series ''Twin Peaks'' by Jennifer Lynch. Lynch, then aged 22, is the daughter of series co-creator David Lynch. It was published between the airing of the first and ...

''. The show's 2017 revival saw much of the original cast return, with Lynch directing. In the years following the first two seasons, the show gained a devoted cult following and became referenced in a wide variety of media. ''Twin Peaks'' is often listed among the greatest television series of all time and has received universal acclaim from critics and audiences. It is considered a landmark turning point in television drama."25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

''. August 3, 2012, p. 40. The 2017 revival also received widespread critical acclaim.

Plot and series overview

Season 1

In 1989, local logger

Pete Martell The following is a list of characters from the television series ''Twin Peaks'', the film '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'', and the 2017 revival. Overview Concepts Bob Frank Silva was a set decorator who worked on the pilot episode. ...

discovers a naked corpse wrapped in plastic on the bank of a river outside the town of Twin Peaks, Washington. When Sheriff Harry S. Truman, his deputies, and doctor

Will Hayward William O. A. Hayward (born 26 October 1998) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by Sydney with their second selection and twenty-first overall, a p ...

arrive, the body is identified as high school senior and

Laura Palmer. A badly injured second girl, Ronette Pulaski, is discovered in a fugue state. FBI Special Agent

is called in to investigate. Cooper's initial examination of Laura's body reveals a tiny typed letter "R" inserted under her fingernail. Cooper informs the community that Laura's death matches the signature of a killer who murdered another girl in southwestern Washington the previous year, and that evidence indicates the killer lives in Twin Peaks. The authorities discover through Laura's diary that she had been living a double life. She was cheating on her boyfriend, football captain Bobby Briggs, with biker

James Hurley James Hurley may refer to: * James Hurley (Twin Peaks), a fictional character from the television show ''Twin Peaks'' * James Francis Hurley (born 1962), English murderer * James R. Hurley (born 1932), Southern New Jersey politician and gambling ...

, and prostituting herself with the help of truck driver Leo Johnson and drug dealer Jacques Renault. Laura was also addicted to cocaine, which she obtained by coercing Bobby into doing business with Jacques. Laura's father, attorney Leland Palmer, suffers a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

after her death. Her best friend Donna Hayward begins a relationship with James. With the help of Laura's cousin

Maddy Ferguson Madeleine "Maddy" Ferguson is a fictional character in the ''Twin Peaks'' franchise. She was created by the series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost and portrayed by Sheryl Lee. Introduced in the fourth episode of the first season, Maddy is t ...

, Donna and James discover that Laura's psychiatrist, Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, was obsessed with her, but he is proven innocent of the murder. Hotelier Ben Horne, the richest man in Twin Peaks, plans to destroy the town's lumber mill along with its owner Josie Packard, and murder his lover (Josie's sister-in-law), Catherine Martell (

Piper Laurie Piper Laurie (born Rosetta Jacobs; January 22, 1932) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the films ''The Hustler'' (1961), ''Carrie (1976 film), Carrie'' (1976), and ''Children of a Lesser God (film), Children of a Lesser God' ...

), so he can purchase the land at a reduced price and complete a development project called Ghostwood. Horne's sultry, troubled daughter, Audrey, becomes infatuated with Agent Cooper and spies on her father for clues in an effort to win Agent Cooper's affection. Cooper has a dream in which he is approached by a one-armed otherworldly being who calls himself MIKE. MIKE says that Laura's murderer is a similar entity, Killer BOB, a feral, denim-clad man with long gray hair. Cooper finds himself decades older with Laura and a dwarf in a red business suit, who engages in coded dialogue with Cooper. The next morning, Cooper tells Truman that, if he can decipher the dream, he will know who killed Laura. Cooper and the sheriff's department find the one-armed man from Cooper's dream, a traveling shoe salesman named Phillip Gerard. Gerard knows a Bob, the veterinarian who treats Renault's pet bird. Cooper interprets these events to mean that Renault is the murderer, and with Truman's help, tracks Renault to One-Eyed Jack's, a brothel owned by Horne across the border in Canada. He lures Renault back onto U.S. soil to arrest him, but Renault is shot while trying to escape and is hospitalized. Leland, learning that Renault has been arrested, sneaks into the hospital and murders him. The same night, Horne orders Leo to burn down the lumber mill with Catherine trapped inside and has Leo gunned down by Hank Jennings to ensure Leo's silence. Cooper returns to his room following Jacques's arrest and is shot by a masked gunman.

Season 2

Lying hurt in his hotel room, Cooper has a vision in which a

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

appears and reveals three clues: "There is a man in a smiling bag", "the owls are not what they seem", and "without chemicals, he points". He takes a gold ring off Cooper's finger and explains that when Cooper understands the three premonitions, his ring will be returned. Leo Johnson survives his shooting but is left brain-damaged. Catherine Martell disappears, presumed killed in the mill fire. Leland Palmer, whose hair has turned white overnight, returns to work but behaves erratically. Cooper deduces that the "man in the smiling bag" is the corpse of Jacques Renault in a body bag. MIKE is inhabiting the body of Phillip Gerard. His personality surfaces when Gerard forgoes the use of a certain drug. MIKE reveals that he and BOB once collaborated in killing humans and that BOB is similarly inhabiting a man in the town. Cooper and the sheriff's department use MIKE, in control of Gerard's body, to help find BOB ("without chemicals, he points"). Donna befriends an agoraphobic orchid grower named Harold Smith whom Laura entrusted with her second, secret diary. Harold catches Donna and Maddy attempting to steal the diary from him and hangs himself in despair. Cooper and the sheriff's department take possession of Laura's secret diary, and learn that BOB, a friend of her father's, had been sexually abusing her since childhood and she used drugs to cope. They initially suspect that the killer is Ben Horne and arrest him, but Leland Palmer is revealed to viewers to be BOB's host when he kills Maddy. Cooper begins to doubt Horne's guilt, so he gathers all of his suspects in the belief that he will receive a sign to help him identify the killer. The Giant appears and confirms that Leland is BOB's host and Laura's and Maddy's killer, giving Cooper back his ring. Cooper and Truman take Leland into custody. In control of Leland's body, BOB admits to a string of murders, before forcing Leland to commit suicide. As Leland dies, he is freed of BOB's influence and begs for forgiveness. BOB's spirit disappears into the woods in the form of an owl and the lawmen wonder if he will reappear. Cooper is set to leave Twin Peaks when he is framed for drug trafficking by Jean Renault and is suspended from the FBI. Renault holds Cooper responsible for the death of his brothers, Jacques and Bernard. Jean Renault is killed in a shootout with police, and Cooper is cleared of all charges. Windom Earle, Cooper's former mentor and FBI partner, escapes from a mental institution and comes to Twin Peaks. Cooper had previously been having an affair with Earle's wife, Caroline, while she was under his protection as a witness to a federal crime. Earle murdered Caroline and wounded Cooper. He now engages Cooper in a twisted game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

during which Earle murders someone whenever a piece is captured. Investigating BOB's origin and whereabouts with the help of Major Garland Briggs, Cooper learns of the existence of the White Lodge and the Black Lodge, two extra-dimensional realms whose entrances are somewhere in the woods surrounding Twin Peaks. Catherine returns to town disguised as a Japanese businessman, having survived the mill fire, and manipulates Ben Horne into signing the Ghostwood project over to her. Andrew Packard, Josie's husband, is revealed to be still alive while Josie Packard is revealed to be the person who shot Cooper at the end of the first season. Andrew forces Josie to confront his business rival and her tormentor from Hong Kong, the sinister Thomas Eckhardt. Josie kills Eckhardt, but she mysteriously dies when Truman and Cooper try to apprehend her. Cooper falls in love with a new arrival in town, Annie Blackburn. Earle captures the brain-damaged Leo for use as a henchman and abandons his chess game with Cooper. When Annie wins the Miss Twin Peaks contest, Earle kidnaps her and takes her to the entrance to the Black Lodge, whose power he seeks to use for himself. Through a series of clues Cooper discovers the entrance to the Black Lodge, which turns out to be the strange, red-curtained room from his dream. He is greeted by the Man From Another Place, the Giant, and Laura Palmer, who each give Cooper cryptic messages. Searching for Annie and Earle, Cooper encounters doppelgängers of various people, including Maddy Ferguson and Leland Palmer. Cooper finds Earle, who demands Cooper's soul in exchange for Annie's life. Cooper agrees but BOB appears and takes Earle's soul for himself. BOB then turns to Cooper, who is chased through the lodge by a doppelgänger of himself. Outside the lodge, Andrew Packard, Pete Martell and Audrey Horne are caught in an explosion at a bank vault, a trap laid by the dead Eckhardt. Cooper and Annie reappear in the woods, both injured. Annie is taken to the hospital but Cooper recovers in his room at the Great Northern Hotel. It becomes clear that the "Cooper" who emerged from the Lodge is in fact his doppelgänger, under BOB's control. He smashes his head into a bathroom mirror and laughs maniacally.

Season 3

25 years after the

cliffhanger ending A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhange ...

of the season two, FBI Special Agent

(

) remains trapped in the Black Lodge and prepares his return to the world. Cooper's doppelgänger—possessed by the evil spirit

Bob Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places * Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

—lives in Cooper's place and works to prevent his own imminent return to the Black Lodge with the help of various associates. Meanwhile, the mysterious murder of a librarian in Buckhorn,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

attracts the attention of FBI Deputy Director Gordon Cole ( David Lynch) and his colleagues, while a message from the Log Lady ( Catherine Coulson) leads members of the Twin Peaks Sheriff's Department to reopen investigations into the events surrounding the 1989 murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (

). Season 3 of ''Twin Peaks'' was announced on October 6, 2014 as a limited series that would air on Showtime. David Lynch and

wrote all the episodes, and Lynch directed. Frost emphasized that the new episodes were not a remake or reboot, but a continuation of the series and film, and the passage of 25 years is an important element of the plot. The third season is also known as ''Twin Peaks: The Return'' and ''Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series''. Most of the original cast returns, including

Mädchen Amick Mädchen Elaina Amick ( ; born December 12, 1970) is an American actress and television director. She is known for her starring role as Shelly Johnson on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991), its prequel film '' Twin Peaks: Fire ...

Sherilyn Fenn Sherilyn Fenn (born Sheryl Ann Fenn; February 1, 1965) is an American actress and author. She came to attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017) for which she was nominated for a Go ...

, Ray Wise, and several others. Additions include

Jeremy Davies Jeremy Davies (né Boring; born October 8, 1969) is an American film and television actor. He is known for playing Ray Aibelli in ''Spanking the Monkey'' (1994), Corporal Upham in ''Saving Private Ryan'' (1998), Snow in '' Solaris'' (2002), Bi ...

Laura Dern Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Born to actor Bruce Dern and a ...

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Forster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019) was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in '' Medium Cool'' (1969), Captain Dan Holland in ''The Black Hole'' (1979), Abdul Rafai in '' The Delta Force'' (1986 ...

Tim Roth Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the " Brit Pack". He made his television debut ...

Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough as Stacy Hamilton in '' Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982). Sh ...

Amanda Seyfried Amanda Michelle Seyfried ( ; born December 3, 1985) is an American actress. Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, she began modeling at age 11 and ventured into acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery on the CBS soap opera ...

Matthew Lillard Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His early film work includes Chip Sutphin in ''Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in '' Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in '' Scream'' (1996), Stevo in ''SLC Pu ...

, and

Naomi Watts Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama '' For Love Alone'' (1986) and then appeared in three television series, '' Hey Dad..!'' (1990), '' ...

Cast

Main cast

as Special Agent

, an FBI agent assigned to investigate the murder of Laura Palmer * Michael Ontkean as Sheriff Harry S. Truman, the local sheriff *

as Shelly Johnson, a young diner waitress in an abusive marriage *

Dana Ashbrook Dana Vernon Ashbrook (born May 24, 1967) is an American actor, best known for playing Bobby Briggs on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017) and its 1992 prequel film '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me''. Early life Ashbrook was ...

as Bobby Briggs, Laura's boyfriend * Richard Beymer as

Benjamin Horne Benjamin Joseph Horne is a fictional character in the television series ''Twin Peaks'', created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, portrayed by Richard Beymer. His middle and last names are based on department store owner Joseph Horne, founder of ...

, a local businessman who owns the Great Northern Hotel * Lara Flynn Boyle as Donna Hayward, Laura's best friend *

as Audrey Horne, Benjamin's daughter and classmate of Laura *

Warren Frost Warren Frost (June 5, 1925 – February 17, 2017) was an American actor. His work was mainly in theater, but he worked in films and television sporadically from 1958. He is known for television roles on '' Matlock'' and ''Seinfeld'', and p ...

as Dr. Will Hayward, Donna's father and the town physician *

Peggy Lipton Margaret Ann Lipton (August 30, 1946 – May 11, 2019) was an American actress, model, and singer. She made appearances in many of the most popular television shows of the 1960s before she landed her defining role as flower child Julie Barnes i ...

as Norma Jennings, owner of the Double R diner * James Marshall as James Hurley, a classmate and friend of Laura and Donna *

Everett McGill Everett McGill (born Charles Everett McGill III, October 21, 1945) is an American actor, who rose to prominence for his portrayal of a caveman in '' Quest for Fire'' (1981). He went on to have prominent roles in the films ''Dune'' (1984), '' Si ...

as Ed Hurley, James' uncle and friend of Sheriff Truman *

Jack Nance Marvin John Nance (December 21, 1943 – December 30, 1996), known professionally as Jack Nance, was an American actor. A longtime collaborator of filmmaker David Lynch, Nance portrayed the lead in Lynch's directorial film debut ''Eraserhead'' (1 ...

as Pete Martell, husband of Catherine Martell * Ray Wise as Leland Palmer, Laura's father and Horne's lawyer *

Joan Chen Joan Chen (born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese-American actress and film director. In China, she performed in the 1979 film and came to the attention of American audiences for her performance in the 1987 film '' The Last Emperor''. She is also ...

as Jocelyn "Josie" Packard, Catherine's sister-in-law and owner of the lucrative Twin Peaks mill *

as Catherine Martell, Josie's sister-in-law and a businesswoman * Kimmy Robertson as Lucy Moran (season 2; recurring season 1), the sheriff station secretary

Secondary cast

* Eric Da Re as Leo Johnson, Shelly's husband and a trucker who often has run-ins with the law. * Harry Goaz as Deputy Sheriff Andy Brennan, a naive deputy *

Michael Horse Michael Horse (born Michael James Heinrich; December 21, 1949) is an American actor known for his portrayals of Native American characters in film and television. Early life Horse was born Michael James Heinrich near Tucson, Arizona, on Decem ...

as Deputy Sheriff Tommy "Hawk" Hill, an expert tracker *

as Laura Palmer and Madeline "Maddy" Ferguson, two identical cousins. Laura, a popular and beloved Twin Peaks resident, is killed, and her death brings Maddy to town. *

Russ Tamblyn Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934) is an American film and television actor and dancer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tamblyn trained as a gymnast in his youth. He began his career as a child actor f ...

as Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, the town psychiatrist *

Kenneth Welsh Kenneth Welsh, (March 30, 1942 – May 5, 2022) was a Canadian film and television actor. He was best known as the multi-faceted villain Windom Earle in ''Twin Peaks'', for his roles in the films '' The Day After Tomorrow'', ''Adoration'', '' S ...

as Windom Earle, Agent Cooper's former partner at the Bureau (season 2)

Recurring cast

* Wendy Robie as Nadine Hurley, Big Ed's wife * Don Davis as Major Garland Briggs, Bobby's father who is involved in classified Air Force experiments * Chris Mulkey as Hank Jennings, Norma's husband out on parole * Gary Hershberger as Mike Nelson, a friend of Bobby's * Grace Zabriskie as Sarah Palmer, Laura's mother * Catherine E. Coulson as Margaret Lanterman / "The Log Lady", a mysterious resident of the town who always carries a log around * Ian Buchanan as Dick Tremayne, a menswear salesman wooing Lucy *

Mary Jo Deschanel Mary Jo Deschanel (née Weir; born November 25, 1945) is an American actress. She is known for roles in the film '' The Right Stuff'' and the television series ''Twin Peaks''. Life and career Deschanel was born as Mary Josephine Weir. Her ancest ...

as Eileen Hayward, Donna's mother * Frank Silva as Killer BOB, a suspect in Laura's murder * Al Strobel as Phillip Michael Gerard / MIKE / "The One-Armed Man", a shoe salesman * David Patrick Kelly as Jerry Horne, Ben's brother and business partner *

Miguel Ferrer Miguel José Ferrer (February 7, 1955 – January 19, 2017) was an American actor. His breakthrough role was as Bob Morton in the 1987 film ''RoboCop''. Other film roles include Quigley in '' Blank Check'' (1994), Harbinger in ''Hot Shots! Part D ...

as Special Agent Albert Rosenfield, a Bureau agent who frequently assists Agent Cooper * John Boylan as Mayor Dwayne Milford, the town's mayor * Victoria Catlin as Blackie O'Reilly, the madam of One-Eyed Jacks *

Charlotte Stewart Charlotte Stewart (born February 27, 1941) is an American film and television actress. Biography Stewart is most famous for her role as the school teacher Miss Beadle on ''Little House on the Prairie'' and her work with director David Lynch. ...

as Betty Briggs, Bobby's mother * David Lynch as Bureau Chief Gordon Cole, the local Bureau Chief who comes to Twin Peaks to assist in Laura's case *

Heather Graham Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970) is an American actress. After appearing in television commercials, her first starring role in a feature film came with the teen comedy '' License to Drive'' (1988), followed by the critically acclaime ...

as Annie Blackburn, Norma's sister (season 2) * Robyn Lively as Lana Budding Milford, town vixen and later Dougie Milford's wife and the Mayor's girlfriend (season 2) * Dan O'Herlihy as Andrew Packard, Josie's husband and Catherine's brother (season 2) * Billy Zane as John Justice Wheeler, a young business partner of Benjamin Horne (season 2) *

Don Amendolia Don Amendolia (born February 1, 1945 in Glassboro, New Jersey) is an American actor. Career He played Big Al Kennedy in NBC's soap opera '' Sunset Beach'', had a recurring role on ''Twin Peaks'', and appeared in one episode of ''Cheers''. Am ...

as Emory Battis * James Booth as Ernie Niles, Norma's stepfather *

Michael Parks Michael Parks (born Harry Samuel Parks; April 24, 1940 – May 9, 2017) was an American singer and actor. He appeared in many films and made frequent television appearances, notably starring in the 1969–1970 series '' Then Came Bronson'', but ...

as Jean Renault, a Canadian criminal involved with One-Eyed Jacks (season 2) * Carel Struycken as The Giant, a mysterious entity who gives Agent Cooper clues to find Laura's killer (season 2) * Phoebe Augustine as Ronette Pulaski, Laura's classmate who survived the attack on them both * Robert Davenport (pilot only) and Robert Bauer as Johnny Horne, Audrey's brother who has special needs *

Lenny Von Dohlen Lenny Von Dohlen Jr. (December 22, 1958 – July 5, 2022) was an American television, film, and stage actor. With a 40-year career that primarily featured work in independent films and guest appearances on numerous prominent series, he was prob ...

as Harold Smith, a local shut-in who was involved with Laura (season 2) * Hank Worden as The Elderly Room Service Waiter, a Great Northern employee who unwittingly aids Cooper in his investigation (season 2) * Michael J. Anderson as The Man from Another Place, a mysterious entity who appears in Cooper's dreams in the Red Room, alongside Laura *

Jan D'Arcy Jan Therese D'Arcy is an American television and film actress born on June 18, 1939 in Oneida, New York, with a career spanning almost five decades. She is best known for playing Sylvia Horne in ''Twin Peaks'', and her roles in many other televis ...

as Sylvia Horne, Audrey's mother and Ben's wife *

David Duchovny David William Duchovny ( ; born ) is an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016-2018) and as writ ...

as DEA Agent Denise Bryson, a transgender DEA agent who assists Cooper (season 2) * Tony Jay as Dougie Milford, the Mayor's brother and Lana's husband (season 2) * Walter Olkewicz as Jacques Renault, Jean Renault's brother who is a suspect in Laura's death * David Warner as Thomas Eckhardt, a businessman involved with Josie and the mill (season 2) * Annette McCarthy as Evelyn Marsh, a woman whom James meets while traveling out of town (season 2) * Jessica Wallenfels as Harriet Hayward, Donna's sister *

Alicia Witt Alicia Roanne Witt (born August 21, 1975) is an American actress, singer and pianist. She first came to fame as a child actress after being discovered by David Lynch, who cast her in '' Dune'' (1984) and '' Twin Peaks'' (1990). Witt had a critic ...

as Gersten Hayward, Donna's sister * Andrea Hays as Heidi, waitress at the Double R Diner

Production

Development

In the 1980s,

worked for three years as a writer for the television police drama ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...

'', which featured a large cast and extended story lines. Following his success with ''

The Elephant Man Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then we ...

'' (1980) and '' Blue Velvet'' (1986), David Lynch was hired by a

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

executive to direct a film about the life of

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

, based on the best-selling book ''Goddess''. Lynch recalls being "sort of interested. I loved the idea of this woman in trouble, but I didn't know if I liked it being a real story." Lynch and Frost first worked together on the ''Goddess'' screenplay, and although the project was dropped by Warner Bros., they became good friends. They went on to work as writer and director for ''One Saliva Bubble'', a film with

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominate ...

attached to star, but it was never made either. Lynch's agent, Tony Krantz, encouraged him to do a television show. Lynch said: "Tony I don't want to do a TV show." He took Lynch to Nibblers restaurant in Los Angeles and said: "You should do a show about real life in America—your vision of America the same way you demonstrated it in ''Blue Velvet''." Lynch got an "idea of a small-town thing", and though he and Frost were not keen on it, they decided to humor Krantz. Frost wanted to tell "a sort of Dickensian story about multiple lives in a contained area that could sort of go perpetually". Originally, the show was to be titled ''North Dakota'' and set in the Plains region of

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

. After Frost, Krantz, and Lynch rented a screening room in Beverly Hills and screened '' Peyton Place'', they decided to develop the town before its inhabitants. Due to the lack of forests and mountains in North Dakota, the title was changed from ''North Dakota'' to ''Northwest Passage'' (the title of the pilot episode), and the location to the Pacific Northwest, specifically Washington. They then drew a map and decided that there would be a lumber mill in the town. Then they came up with an image of a body washing up on the shore of a lake. Lynch remembers: "We knew where everything was located and that helped us determine the prevailing atmosphere and what might happen there." Frost remembers that he and Lynch came up with the notion of the girl next door leading a "desperate double life" that would end in murder. The idea was inspired, in part, by the unsolved 1908 murder of Hazel Irene Drew in

Sand Lake, New York Sand Lake is a town in south-central part of Rensselaer County, New York, United States. Sand Lake is about 13 miles east of Albany, New York. Within the town are three hamlets: Averill Park, Glass Lake and the hamlet of Sand Lake. Its four la ...

. Lynch and Frost pitched the idea to ABC during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike in a ten-minute meeting with the network's drama head, Chad Hoffman, with nothing more than this image and a concept. According to the director, the mystery of who killed Laura Palmer was initially going to be in the foreground, but would recede gradually as viewers got to know the other townsfolk and the problems they were having. Lynch and Frost wanted to mix a police investigation with a soap opera. ABC liked the idea and asked Lynch and Frost to write a screenplay for the pilot episode. They had been talking about the project for three months and wrote the screenplay in 10 days. Frost wrote more verbal characters, like Benjamin Horne, while Lynch was responsible for Agent Cooper. According to the director, "He says a lot of the things I say." ABC Entertainment President Brandon Stoddard ordered the two-hour pilot for a possible fall 1989 series. He left the position in March 1989 as Lynch went into production. They filmed the pilot for $4 million with an agreement with ABC that they would shoot an additional "ending" to it so that it could be sold directly to video in Europe as a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

if the TV show was not picked up. ABC's Bob Iger and his creative team took over, saw the dailies, and met with Frost and Lynch to get the arc of the stories and characters. Although Iger liked the pilot, he had difficulty persuading the rest of the network executives. Iger suggested showing it to a more diverse, younger group, who liked it, and the executive subsequently convinced ABC to buy seven episodes at $1.1 million apiece. Some executives figured that the show would never get on the air or that it might run as a seven-hour mini-series, but Iger planned to schedule it for the spring. The final showdown occurred during a bi-coastal conference call between Iger and a room full of New York executives; Iger won, and ''Twin Peaks'' was on the air. Each episode took a week to shoot, and after directing the second episode, Lynch went off to complete '' Wild at Heart'', while Frost wrote the remaining segments. Standards and Practices had a problem with only one scene from the first season: an extreme close-up in the pilot of Cooper's hand as he slid tweezers under Laura's fingernail and removed a tiny "R". They wanted the scene to be shorter because it made them uncomfortable, but Frost and Lynch refused, and the scene remained.

Casting

''Twin Peaks'' features members of a loose ensemble of Lynch's favorite character actors, including

, Grace Zabriskie, and

Isabella Rossellini Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (born 18 June 1952) is an Italian-American actress, author, philanthropist, and model. The daughter of the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted ...

, who had worked with Lynch on ''Blue Velvet'', was originally cast as Giovanna Packard, but she dropped out of the production before shooting began on the pilot episode. The character was then reconceived as Josie Packard, of Chinese ethnicity, and the role given to actress

. The cast includes several actors who had risen to fame in the 1950s and 1960s, including 1950s film stars Richard Beymer,

, and

. Other veteran actors included British actor James Booth ('' Zulu''), former ''

The Mod Squad ''The Mod Squad'' is an American crime drama series, originally broadcast for five seasons on ABC from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter "Pete" Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III ...

'' star

, and Michael Ontkean, who co-starred in the 1970s crime drama ''

The Rookies ''The Rookies'' is an American police procedural series that aired on ABC from 1972 until 1976. It follows the exploits of three rookie police officers working in an unidentified city for the fictitious Southern California Police Department (SC ...

''. Kyle MacLachlan was cast as Agent Dale Cooper. Stage actor

was cast as Dr. Will Hayward. Due to budget constraints, Lynch intended to cast a local girl from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

as Laura Palmer, reportedly "just to play a dead girl". The local girl ended up being Sheryl Lee. Lynch stated: "But no one—not Mark, me, anyone—had any idea that she could act, or that she was going to be so powerful just being dead." And then, while Lynch shot the home movie that James takes of Donna and Laura, he realized that Lee had something special. "She did do another scene—the video with Donna on the picnic—and it was that scene that did it." As a result, Sheryl Lee became a semi-regular addition to the cast, appearing in flashbacks as Laura, and portraying another, recurring character:

, Laura's similar-looking cousin. The character of Phillip Gerard's appearance in the pilot episode was originally intended to be only a "kind of homage to '' The Fugitive''. The only thing he was gonna do was be in this elevator and walk out", according to David Lynch. However, when Lynch wrote the "Fire walk with me" speech, he imagined Al Strobel, who played Gerard, reciting it in the basement of the Twin Peaks hospital—a scene that appeared in the European version of the pilot episode, and surfaced later in Agent Cooper's dream sequence. Gerard's full name, Phillip Michael Gerard, is also a reference to Lieutenant Phillip Gerard, a character in '' The Fugitive''. Lynch met Michael J. Anderson in 1987. After seeing him in a short film, Lynch wanted to cast the actor in the title role in '' Ronnie Rocket'', but that project failed to get made. Richard Beymer was cast as Ben Horne because he had known Johanna Ray, Lynch's casting director. Lynch was familiar with Beymer's work in the 1961 film ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

'' and was surprised that Beymer was available for the role.

Set dresser A set dresser in drama (theater, film etc.) prepares the set with props and furniture to give it correct appearance and make sure each item is in correct position for each performance. In film Set dressers arrange objects on a film set before rolli ...

Frank Silva was cast as the mysterious "Bob". Lynch himself recalls that the idea originated when he overheard Silva moving furniture around in the bedroom set, and then heard a woman warning Silva not to block himself in by moving furniture in front of the door. Lynch was struck with an image of Silva in the room. When he learned that Silva was an actor, he filmed two panning shots, one with Silva at the base of the bed, and one without; he did not yet know how he would use this material. Later that day, during the filming of Sarah Palmer having a vision, the camera operator told Lynch that the shot was ruined because "Frank ilvawas reflected in the mirror". Lynch comments: "Things like this happen and make you start dreaming. And one thing leads to another, and if you let it, a whole other thing opens up." Lynch used the panning shot of Silva in the bedroom, and the shot featuring Silva's reflection, in the closing scenes of the European version of the pilot episode. Silva's reflection in the mirror can also be glimpsed during the scene of Sarah's vision at the end of the original pilot, but it is less clear. A close-up of Silva in the bedroom later became a significant image in episodes of the TV series.

Music

The score for ''Twin Peaks'' has received acclaim; ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote that it "still marks the summit of TV soundtracks". In fall 1989, composer Angelo Badalamenti and Lynch created the score for the show. In 20 minutes they produced the signature theme for the series. Badalamenti called it the "Love Theme from Twin Peaks". Lynch told him: "You just wrote 75% of the score. It's the mood of the whole piece. It is ''Twin Peaks''." While creating the score, Lynch often described the moods or emotions he wanted the music to evoke, and Badalamenti began to play the piano. In the scenes dominated by young men, they are accompanied by music that Badalamenti called Cool Jazz. The characters' masculinity was enhanced by finger-snapping, "cocktail-lounge electric piano, pulsing bass, and lightly brushed percussion". A handful of the motifs were borrowed from the Julee Cruise album '' Floating into the Night'', which was written in large part by Badalamenti and Lynch and was released in 1989. This album also serves as the soundtrack to another Lynch project, '' Industrial Symphony No. 1'', a live Cruise performance also featuring Michael J. Anderson (" The Man from Another Place"). An instrumental version of the song " Falling" became the theme to the show, and the songs " Rockin' Back Inside My Heart", "The Nightingale", "The World Spins", and "Into the Night" (found in their full versions on the album) were all, except the last, used as Cruise's roadhouse performances during the show's run. The lyrics for all five songs were written by Lynch. A second volume of the soundtrack was released on October 30, 2007, to coincide with the Definitive Gold Box DVD set. In March 2011, Lynch began releasing '' The Twin Peaks Archive'' – a collection of previously unavailable tracks from the series and the film via his website.

Filming locations

FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper states, in the pilot episode, that Twin Peaks is "five miles south of the Canadian border, and twelve miles west of the state line". This places it in the Salmo-Priest Wilderness. Lynch and Frost started their location search in Snoqualmie, Washington, on the recommendation of a friend of Frost. They found all of the locations that they had written into the pilot episode. The towns of Snoqualmie, North Bend and

Fall City Fall City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in King County, Washington, United States, east of Seattle. The community lies along the Snoqualmie River and Raging River. The population was 1,993 at the 2010 census ...

– which became the primary filming locations for stock ''Twin Peaks'' exterior footage – are about an hour's drive from the town of

Roslyn, Washington Roslyn is a city in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 893 at the 2010 census. Roslyn is located in the Cascade Mountains, about 80 miles east of Seattle. The town was founded in 1886 as a coal mining company town. D ...

, the town used for the series '' Northern Exposure''. Many exterior scenes were filmed in wooded areas of

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malib ...

. Most of the interior scenes were shot on standing sets in a San Fernando Valley warehouse. The soap opera show-within-the-show ''Invitation to Love'' was not shot on a studio set, but in the

Ennis House The Ennis House is a residential dwelling in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, south of Griffith Park. The home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Charles and Mabel Ennis in 1923 and was built in 1924. Fol ...

, an architectural landmark designed by

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles.

Filming

Mark Frost and David Lynch made use of repeating and sometimes mysterious motifs such as trees (especially fir and pines),

coffee and doughnuts Coffee and doughnuts is a common food and drink pairing in the United States and Canada (where ''doughnuts'' are typically spelled ''donuts''). The pairing is often consumed as a simple breakfast, and is often consumed in doughnut shops. Coffee ...

, cherry pie, owls, logs, ducks, water, fire — and numerous embedded references to other films and TV shows. During the filming of the scene in which Cooper first examines Laura's body, a malfunctioning fluorescent lamp above the table flickered constantly, but Lynch decided not to replace it, since he liked the disconcerting effect that it created. Cooper's dream at the end of the third episode, which became a driving plot point in the series's first season and ultimately held the key to the identity of Laura's murderer, was never scripted. The idea came to Lynch one afternoon after touching the side of a hot car left out in the sun: "I was leaning against a car—the front of me was leaning against this very warm car. My hands were on the roof and the metal was very hot. The Red Room scene leapt into my mind. 'Little Mike' was there, and he was speaking backwards... For the rest of the night I thought only about The Red Room." The footage was originally shot along with the pilot, to be used as the conclusion were it to be released as a feature film. When the series was picked up, Lynch decided to incorporate some of the footage; in the fourth episode, Cooper, narrating the dream, outlines the shot footage which Lynch did not incorporate, such as Mike shooting Bob and the fact that he is 25 years older when he meets Laura Palmer's spirit. In an attempt to avoid cancellation, the idea of a Cooper possessed by Bob came up and was included in the final episode, but the series was cancelled even before the episode was aired.

Response

Before the one-and-a-half-hour pilot premiered on TV, a screening was held at the Museum of Broadcasting in Hollywood. Media analyst and advertising executive Paul Schulman said: "I don't think it has a chance of succeeding. It is not commercial, it is radically different from what we as viewers are accustomed to seeing, there's no one in the show to root for." The show's Thursday night time slot had not been a good one for soap operas, as both ''

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

'' and its short-lived spin-off '' The Colbys'' did poorly. ''Twin Peaks'' was also up against the hugely successful sitcom '' Cheers''. Initially, the show received a positive response from TV critics. Tom Shales, in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', wrote: "''Twin Peaks'' disorients you in ways that small-screen productions seldom attempt. It's a pleasurable sensation, the floor dropping out and leaving one dangling." In ''The New York Times'', John J. O'Connor wrote: "''Twin Peaks'' is not a send-up of the form. Mr. Lynch clearly savors the standard ingredients ... but then the director adds his own peculiar touches, small passing details that suddenly, and often hilariously, thrust the commonplace out of kilter." ''

'' gave the show an "A+" rating, and Ken Tucker wrote: "Plot is irrelevant; moments are everything. Lynch and Frost have mastered a way to make a weekly series endlessly interesting." Richard Zoglin in ''Time'' magazine said that it "may be the most hauntingly original work ever done for American TV". The two-hour pilot was the highest-rated movie for the 1989–90 season with a 22 rating and was viewed by 33% of the audience. In its first broadcast as a regular one-hour drama series, ''Twin Peaks'' scored ABC's highest ratings in four years in its 9:00 pm Thursday time slot. The show also reduced NBC's ''Cheers''s ratings. ''Twin Peaks'' had a 16.2 rating, with each point equaling 921,000 homes with TVs. The episode also added new viewers because of what ABC's senior vice-president of research, Alan Wurtzel, called "the water cooler syndrome", in which people talk about the series the next day at work. But the show's third episode lost 14% of the audience that had tuned in a week before. That audience had dropped 30% from the show's first appearance on Thursday night. This was a result of competing against ''Cheers'', which appealed to the same demographic that watched ''Twin Peaks''. A production executive from the show spoke of being frustrated with the network's scheduling of the show. "The show is being banged around on Thursday night. If ABC had put it on Wednesday night it could have built on its initial success. ABC has put the show at risk." In response, the network aired the first-season finale on a Wednesday night at 10:00 pm instead of its usual 9:00 pm Thursday slot. The show achieved its best ratings since its third week on the air with a 12.6 and a 22 share of the audience. On May 22, 1990, it was announced that ''Twin Peaks'' would be renewed for a second season. During the first and second season, the search for Laura Palmer's killer served as the engine for the plot and captured the public's imagination, although the creators admitted that this was largely a

MacGuffin In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail for ...

; each episode was really about the interactions between the townsfolk. The unique (and often bizarre) personalities of each citizen formed a web of minutiae that ran contrary to the town's quaint appearance. Adding to the surreal atmosphere was the recurrence of Dale Cooper's dreams, in which the FBI agent is given clues to Laura's murder in a supernatural realm that may or may not be of his imagination. The first season contained only eight episodes (including the two-hour pilot episode). It was considered technically and artistically revolutionary for television at the time and geared toward reaching the standards of film. Critics have noted that ''Twin Peaks'' began the trend of accomplished

now commonplace in today's television dramas. Lynch and Frost maintained tight control over the first season and served as showrunners, handpicking all of the directors, including some whom Lynch had known from his days at the American Film Institute (e.g.,

Caleb Deschanel Joseph Caleb Deschanel, (born September 21, 1944) is an American cinematographer and director of film and television. He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography six times. He is a member of the National Film Preservat ...

and Tim Hunter) and some referred to him by those he knew personally. Lynch and Frost's control lessened in the second season as the two became less involved with the series, corresponding with what is generally regarded as a decrease in the show's quality once the identity of Laura Palmer's murderer was revealed. While Frost and Lynch technically remained showrunners after "Episode 14", the episode in which the killer's identity was revealed, Lynch had little creative control over the direction of the series from that point forward other than the season finale; Frost became less involved after "Episode 16" and became more involved again with "Episode 26" onwards. After "Episode 14", series producers Harley Peyton and Robert Engels served as additional showrunners along with Frost and Lynch. The aforementioned "water cooler effect" put pressure on the show's creators to solve the mystery. Although they claimed to have known from the series' inception the identity of Laura's murderer, Lynch never wanted to solve the murder, while Frost felt that they had an obligation to the audience to solve it. This created tension between the two men. Its ambitious style, paranormal undertones, and engaging murder mystery made ''Twin Peaks'' an unexpected hit. Its characters, particularly MacLachlan's Dale Cooper, were unorthodox for a supposed crime drama, as was Cooper's method of interpreting his dreams to solve the crime. During its first season, the show's popularity reached its zenith, and elements of the program seeped into mainstream popular culture, prompting parodies, including one in the 16th-season premiere of ''Saturday Night Live'', hosted by MacLachlan.

Critical acclaim

For its first season, ''Twin Peaks'' received fourteen nominations at the

42nd Primetime Emmy Awards The 42nd Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 16, 1990. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. Two networks, The Family Channel and The Disney Channel, received their firs ...

, for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Kyle MacLachlan), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Piper Laurie), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (

), Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series (David Lynch), Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series (David Lynch and Mark Frost), Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series ( Harley Peyton), Outstanding Art Direction for a Series, Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music, Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore), Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics, and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series. Out of its fourteen nominations, it won for Outstanding Costume Design for a Series and Outstanding Editing for a Series – Single Camera Production. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season received a 91 percent approval rating with an average score of 8.95 out of 10 based on 114 reviews, with a critics consensus of: "''Twin Peaks'' plays with TV conventions to deliver a beguiling – and unsettling – blend of seemingly disparate genres, adding up to an offbeat drama with a distinctly unique appeal." Metacritic scored the season a 96 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". For its second season, it received four nominations at the

43rd Primetime Emmy Awards The 43rd Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, August 25, 1991. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. The network TNT received its first major nomination at this ceremony. For its ...

, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Kyle MacLachlan), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Piper Laurie), Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series, and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series. On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season received a 63 percent approval rating with an average score of 7.65 out of 10 based on 161 reviews, with a critics consensus of: "''Twin Peaks'' answers its central question with diminishing returns while struggling to establish worthy new mysteries, but there are enough mesmeric flourishes to keep devotees dreaming of what lies in the Red Room." At the 48th Golden Globe Awards, it won for Best TV Series – Drama, Kyle MacLachlan won for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series – Drama, Piper Laurie won for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV; while Sherilyn Fenn was nominated in the same category as Laurie. The pilot episode was ranked 25th on ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

''s 1997 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. It placed 49th on ''

'' "New TV Classics" list. In 2004 and 2007, ''Twin Peaks'' was ranked 20th and 24th on ''TV Guide''s Top Cult Shows Ever, and in 2002, it was ranked 45th of the " Top 50 Television Programs of All Time" by the same guide. In 2007, UK broadcaster

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

ranked ''Twin Peaks'' 9th on their list of the "50 Greatest TV Dramas". Also that year, ''Time'' included the show on their list of the "100 Best TV Shows of All-Time". '' Empire'' listed ''Twin Peaks'' as the 24th best TV show in their list of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time". In 2012, ''Entertainment Weekly'' listed the show at no. 12 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years", saying: "The show itself was only fitfully brilliant and ultimately unfulfilling, but the cult lives, fueled by nostalgia for the extraordinary pop phenomenon it inspired, for its significance to the medium (behold the big bang of auteur TV!), and for a sensuous strangeness that possesses you and never lets you go." The series has been nominated for the TCA Heritage Award six consecutive years since 2010. It was ranked 20th on ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

''s list of Hollywood's 100 Favorite TV Shows.

Declining ratings

With the resolution of ''Twin Peaks'' main drawing point (Laura Palmer's murder) in the middle of the second season, and with subsequent story lines becoming more obscure and drawn out, public interest began to wane. This discontent, coupled with ABC changing its timeslot on a number of occasions, led to a huge drop in the show's ratings after being one of the most watched television programs in the United States in 1990. Due to the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

, ''Twin Peaks'' was moved from its usual time slot "for six weeks out of eight" in early 1991, according to Frost, preventing the show from maintaining audience interest. A week after the season's 15th episode placed 85th in the ratings out of 89 shows, ABC put ''Twin Peaks'' on indefinite hiatus, a move that usually leads to cancellation. An organized letter-writing campaign, dubbed COOP (Citizens Opposed to the Offing of ''Peaks''), attempted to save the show from cancellation. The campaign was partly successful, as the season returned to airing on Thursday nights for four weeks from late March. The series then went on another hiatus, before the final two episodes of the season aired back-to-back on June 10. According to Frost, the main storyline after the resolution of Laura Palmer's murder was planned to be the second strongest element from the first season that audiences responded to: the relationship between Agent Cooper and Audrey Horne. Frost explained that Lara Flynn Boyle, who was romantically involved with Kyle MacLachlan at the time, had effectively vetoed the Audrey–Cooper relationship, forcing the writers to come up with alternative storylines to fill the gap. Sherilyn Fenn corroborated this claim in a 2014 interview, stating: " oylewas mad that my character was getting more attention, so then Kyle started saying that his character shouldn't be with my character because it doesn't look good, 'cause I'm too young... I was not happy about it. It was stupid." This meant the artificial extension of secondary storylines, such as James Hurley and Evelyn Marsh, to fill in the space. After ratings began to decline, Agent Cooper was given a new love interest, Annie Blackburn (

), to replace the writers' intended romance between him and Audrey Horne. Despite ending on a deliberate audience-baiting cliffhanger, the series finale did not sufficiently boost interest, and the show was not renewed for a third season, leaving the cliffhanger unresolved. Lynch expressed his regret at having resolved the Laura Palmer murder, saying that he and Frost had never intended for the series to answer the question and that doing so "killed the goose that laid the golden eggs". Lynch blamed network pressure for the decision to resolve the Palmer storyline prematurely. Frost agreed, noting that people at the network had in fact wanted the killer to be revealed by the end of season one. In 1993, cable channel Bravo acquired the license to rerun the entire series, which began airing in June 1993. These reruns included Lynch's addition of introductions to each episode by the Log Lady and her cryptic musings. Looking back, Frost has admitted that he wished he and Lynch had "worked out a smoother transition" between storylines and that the Laura Palmer story was a "tough act to follow". Regarding the second season, Frost felt that "perhaps the storytelling wasn't quite as taut or as fraught with emotion".

Influence

Writing for ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' in 2016, Mike Mariani wrote that "It would be tough to look at the roster of television shows any given season without finding several that owe a creative debt to ''Twin Peaks''", stating that "Lynch's manipulation of the uncanny, his surreal non-sequiturs, his black humor, and his trademark ominous tracking shots can be felt in a variety of contemporary hit shows." In 2010, the television series '' Psych'' paid tribute to the series by reuniting some of the cast in the fifth-season episode "

Dual Spires "Dual Spires" is the 12th episode of the fifth season of the American comedy-drama television series ''Psych'', and the 75th episode overall. The episode was directed by Matt Shakman and written by Bill Callahan and series star James Roday Ro ...

". The episode's plot is an homage to the ''Twin Peaks'' pilot, where the characters of ''Psych'' investigate the death of a young girl in a small town called "Dual Spires". The episode also contains several references to the original show. ''Twin Peaks'' actors that guest-star in the episode are

, Robyn Lively,

, Catherine E. Coulson and Ray Wise. Prior to the airing of the episode, a special event at the

Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to ...

was held, where the actors from both shows discussed the episode. Reviewers and fans of four seasons of

Veena Sud Veena Cabreros-Sud (pronounced "Sood") is a Canadian-born American television writer, director, and producer. She is best known for developing the American television drama '' The Killing'', which is based on the Danish series '' Forbrydelsen (T ...

's U.S. TV series '' The Killing'' have noted similarities and borrowed elements from Lynch's ''Fire Walk with Me'' and ''Twin Peaks'', and compared Sud and Lynch's works.

Carlton Cuse Arthur Carlton Cuse (born March 22, 1959) is a screenwriter, showrunner, producer, and director, best known for the American television series ''Lost'', for which he made the '' Time'' list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010 ...

, creator of '' Bates Motel'', cited ''Twin Peaks'' as a key inspiration for his series, stating: "We pretty much ripped off ''Twin Peaks''... If you wanted to get that confession, the answer is yes. I loved that show. They only did 30 episodes. Kerry hrinand I thought we'd do the 70 that are missing." ''Twin Peaks'' served as an inspiration for the 1993 video game '' The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening'', with director

Takashi Tezuka is a Japanese video game designer, director, and video game producer, producer. He is a senior officer of Nintendo EPD and executive at Nintendo. Career Upon graduating the Design Department of Osaka University of Arts, he joined Nintendo in A ...

citing the series as the main factor for the creation of the "suspicious" characters that populate the game, as well as the mystery elements of the story. The show has also influenced a number of

survival horror Survival horror is a subgenre of survival of the players as the game tries to frighten them with either horror graphics or scary ambience. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical ac ...

and

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and c ...

video games—most notably ''

Alan Wake ''Alan Wake'' is an action-adventure game developed by Remedy Entertainment. The story follows best-selling thriller novelist Alan Wake as he tries to uncover the mystery behind his wife's disappearance during a vacation in the small fictional ...

'', '' Deadly Premonition'', ''

Silent Hill is a horror anthology media franchise centered on a series of survival horror games created by Keiichiro Toyama and published by Konami. The first four video games in the series, '' Silent Hill'', ''Silent Hill 2'', ''Silent Hill 3'' and '' ...

'', and '' Max Payne''. The 1998 open world

adventure video game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

'' Mizzurna Falls'' was reminiscent and an homage to ''Twin Peaks''. The American animated show ''

Gravity Falls ''Gravity Falls'' is an American mystery comedy animated television series created by Alex Hirsch for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series follows the adventures of Dipper Pines ( Jason Ritter) and his twin sister Mabel ( Kristen Schaal) ...

'' repeatedly referenced the Black Lodge along with other elements of ''Twin Peaks'' throughout its run. '' Riverdale'', an American teen drama, is noted for its many homages to ''Twin Peaks''. Along with many thematic similarities and direct references,

appears in both series. In an interview promoting the second season of ''Riverdale'', showrunner

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (born 1973) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics and for the television series '' Glee'', '' Big Love'', '' Riverdale'', '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' ...

remarked that "all roads on ''Riverdale'' lead back to ''Twin Peaks''". The song " Laura Palmer" by the band

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stor ...

was written influenced by the "slightly weird, eerie" atmosphere of the show. While the series is not usually described as

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

, it has been noted to have been influential on that genre.

Future

Since Season 3 ended in 2017, Lynch and Frost have expressed interest in making another season of ''Twin Peaks''. Lynch has been asked in several interviews if he would continue, once saying "I don't know, I have a box of ideas, and I'm working with producer

Sabrina S. Sutherland Sabrina S. Sutherland is an American film producer, best known for her work with David Lynch. Career Sutherland is known for being the long-time producing partner of David Lynch and for her work on ''Twin Peaks'' (1990), ''Inland Empire (film), ...

, kind of trying to go through and see if there's any gold in those boxes." Lynch also said one more story was "calling to him" involving the character of Carrie Page. In a Reddit AMA on June 22, 2020, star Kyle MacLachlan said Cooper was his "favorite role of all time" and that he would "absolutely" return to another season "without even seeing the script".

Merchandise

Home media

The series was released on VHS in a six-tape collection on April 16, 1995; however, it did not include the original pilot episode. The series was also released on LaserDisc in a sixteen-disc set in 1991 in Japan. The same set was later released in the U.S. across four different volumes from 1993 to 1994; neither release contained the original pilot nor '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me''. On December 18, 2001, the first season (episodes 1–7, minus the pilot) of ''Twin Peaks'' was released on DVD in Region 1 by

Artisan Entertainment Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until ...

. The box set featured digitally remastered video and was noted for being the first TV series to have its audio track redone in DTS. The second-season release was postponed several times, and the release was originally canceled in 2003 by Artisan due to low sales figures for the season 1 DVD. The second season was finally released in the United States and Canada on April 3, 2007, via Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment/

CBS DVD CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises, Inc., MGM/CBS Home Video, CBS/Fox Video and CBS Video, currently branded as CBS DVD for DVD releases and CBS Blu-ray for Blu-ray releases) is a home entertainment company owned by Paramoun ...

. On October 30, 2007, the broadcast version of the pilot finally received a legitimate U.S. release as part of the ''Twin Peaks'' "Definitive Gold Box Edition". This set includes both U.S. original network broadcast and international versions of the pilot. The set also includes all episodes from both seasons, deleted scenes for both seasons, and a feature-length retrospective documentary. ''

'' gave the box set a "B+" rating and wrote: "There are numerous fascinatingly frank mini-docs here, including interviews with many ''Peaks'' participants; together, they offer one of the best available portraits of how a TV hit can go off the rails." In July 2013, it was revealed that a

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

version of the complete series would be released. In January 2014, Lynch confirmed the Blu-ray release and that it would contain the pilot, season 1, season 2, new special features, and possibly the film. It was announced on May 15, 2014, that the Blu-ray box set containing the complete series of ''Twin Peaks'', the film ''Fire Walk With Me'', and ''The Missing Pieces'', the long-awaited release of 90 minutes of deleted scenes from the film, would be released on July 29, 2014. ''Twin Peaks: From Z to A'', a 21-disc limited edition Blu-ray box set, which includes all the television episodes, ''Fire Walk with Me'', ''The Missing Pieces'', previously released special features, six hours of new behind-the-scenes content, and 4K versions of the original pilot and episode 8 from ''The Return'', was released on December 10, 2019. Additionally, ''Twin Peaks: The Television Collection'', a Blu-ray and DVD collection of the original series, ''The Return'', and all previously released special features, was released on October 15, 2019. Online, the original series is available through

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media ...

, while ''The Return'' is available with Showtime's "Anytime" service for pay-TV

subscribers The subscription business model is a business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners f ...

and its

over-the-top An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...

separate service. '' Twin Peaks Fire Walk with Me'' is available via

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

Books, audio and virtual reality

During the show's second season, Pocket Books released three official tie-in books, each authored by the show's creators (or their family), which offer a wealth of backstory. ''

'', written by Lynch's daughter

Jennifer Lynch Jennifer Chambers Lynch (born April 7, 1968) is an American filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker David Lynch, she made her directorial debut with the film '' Boxing Helena'' in 1993. Following a troubled production, the film was a critical and co ...

, is the diary as seen in the series and written by Laura, chronicling her thoughts from her twelfth birthday to the days leading up to her death. Frost's brother Scott wrote ''The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes''. Kyle MacLachlan also recorded ''Diane: The Twin Peaks Tapes of Agent Cooper'', which combined audio tracks from various episodes of the series with newly recorded monologues. ''Welcome to Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town'' offers information about the history, flora, fauna, and culture of the fictitious town. ''Twin Peaks: Visual Soundtrack'' is a LaserDisc that plays like an elaborate music video. The show's entire soundtrack album is played over silent video footage shot by a Japanese TV crew visiting the Snoqualmie, Washington, locations where the series was shot. '' The Secret History of Twin Peaks'', a novel by series co-creator Mark Frost, "places the unexplained phenomena that unfolded in Twin Peaks in a layered, wide-ranging history, beginning with the journals of Lewis and Clark and ending with the shocking events that closed the finale". It was published on October 18, 2016. '' Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier'' was released October 31, 2017. A follow-up to ''The Secret History of Twin Peaks'', it was written by Mark Frost. The novel fills in details of the 25 years between the second and third seasons, and expands on some of the mysteries raised in the new episodes. ''Twin Peaks VR'', a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...

game developed by Collider Games and Showtime in collaboration with David Lynch, was released on December 13, 2019. Players can explore familiar locations while solving puzzles to help Special Agent Cooper and Gordon Cole. The game is available on

Oculus Rift Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a division of Meta Platforms, released on March 28, 2016. In 2012 Oculus initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Rift's development, af ...

Vive Vive may refer to: * Vive, Viva, a Romance language expression * ''Vive'' (José José album), 1974 * ''Vive'' (Lucía Méndez album), 2004 *Vive (a cappella group), a cappella group from England, United Kingdom *ViVe Televisión, a state-owned Ve ...

and Valve Index.

Theatrical film

The 1992 film ''Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' is a prequel to the TV series. It tells of the investigation into the murder of Teresa Banks, and the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer. Director David Lynch and most of the television cast returned for the film, with the notable exceptions of Lara Flynn Boyle, who declined to return as Laura's best friend Donna Hayward and was replaced by

Moira Kelly Moira Kelly (born on March 6, 1968 in Queens, New York) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Kate Moseley in the 1992 film ''The Cutting Edge'' as well as single mother Karen Roe on the teen drama '' One Tree Hill''. She is also k ...

, and Sherilyn Fenn due to scheduling conflicts. Also,

returned reluctantly as he wanted to avoid typecasting, so his presence in the film is smaller than originally planned. Lynch originally shot about five hours of footage that was subsequently cut down to two hours and fourteen minutes. Most of the deleted scenes feature additional characters from the television series who ultimately did not appear in the finished film. Around ninety minutes of these scenes are included in the complete series Blu-ray that was released on July 29, 2014. ''Fire Walk with Me'' polarized critics upon its release, especially in comparison to the widespread acclaim of the series. However, the film was nominated for the

Palme d’Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

1992 Cannes Film Festival The 45th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1992. The Palme d'Or went to the '' Den goda viljan'' by Bille August. The festival opened with ''Basic Instinct'', directed by Paul Verhoeven and closed with ''Far and Away'', directed by R ...

. It grossed a total of US$1.8 million in 691 theaters in its opening weekend and went on to gross a total of $4.1 million in North America. The film has developed a cult following over time and been critically reevaluated, with some critics considering the film one of Lynch’s major works. "Fire Walk With Me was Twin Peaks’ missing head, and perhaps the cinemagoers of 1992 weren’t quite prepared to find it in the fridge, beside the fruit juice. But time has passed, and its brilliance is gradually coming into focus, just as Lynch hoped it would." The release of the third season in 2017, which made many references to the film, led to additional renewed interest.

Notes

References

Sources

* Lavery, David, ed. (1995). ''Full of Secrets: Critical Approaches to Twin Peaks''. Wayne State University Press. . * * Bushman, David; Smith, Arthur (2016). ''Twin Peaks FAQ: All That's Left to Know About a Place Both Wonderful and Strange'' Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. Milwaukee, WI. * Hoffman, Eric; Grace, Dominick, eds. (2017). ''Approaching Twin Peaks: Essays on the Original Series''. McFarland Press.

External links

* at Showtime * at

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...