When David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks debuted in 1990, it changed the television landscape for good. A hugely influential series, Twin Peaks might have been a serial mystery at its core, but it also blurred genre lines, incorporating offbeat humor, horror tropes, and soap-opera-level melodrama. Initially, the cult classic revolved around a vital question: Who killed Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee)? It’s that mystery that brings FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) to town, propelling him on a strange investigation that straddles the line between the real and the fantastic.
Infused with Lynch’s signature surreal elements and atmospheric menace, Twin Peaks, and its ensemble of quirky characters, are easy to get invested in. Unfortunately, ABC wanted Frost and Lynch to reveal the identity of Laura’s killer in season 2. With the show’s core mystery solved, ratings and viewership declined, resulting in the series’ untimely cancelation in 1991. While Lynch followed the show up with the feature-length film prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, viewers were left reeling over Twin Peaks season 2’s cliffhanger ending for about 25 years.
In 2017, Showtime played host to Twin Peaks: The Return — a third season of the show that Lynch dubbed his 18-part follow-up movie. Set 25 years after the events of the original series — in a fitting ode to Laura Palmer’s cryptic Twin Peaks quote, “I’ll see you again in 25 years” — Twin Peaks: The Return boasts a remarkable ensemble of new and returning cast members. Led by MacLachlan, who plays both Cooper and his evil double, Mr. C, The Return is the opposite of the original show in many ways. Instead of asking viewers to uncover a mystery, The Return presents viewers with puzzle pieces, asking them to put it all together.
The second season of the show ends with Dale Cooper entering Twin Peaks‘ Black Lodge — an extradimensional space that seems to be a place of pure evil. After entering the Lodge through a portal in the woods, Cooper encounters all sorts of doppelgängers, including his own evil double, who chases Coop through the Lodge’s maze of red curtains. Ultimately, the evil Cooper (Mr. C) escapes from the Lodge, leaving the real Cooper trapped in limbo for 25 years.Twin Peaks: The Return may resolve that thread, but it also raises many, many more questions.
When Dale Cooper encounters Laura Palmer in the Red Room of the Black Lodge in the original series, she tells him many cryptic things. Most importantly, she whispers the identity of her killer in Cooper’s ear. It’s eventually revealed to audiences that Leland Palmer, Laura’s father, killed her after years of physical abuse. In turn, Leland was possessed by an entity of pure evil called BOB, who lives off pain and suffering. However, it’s possible that there’s something even worse than BOB — potentially Twin Peaks‘ mysterious Judy. Laura could have been whispering just about anything to Cooper, but given their past exchange, it seems related to Cooper’s mission in the last two episodes of The Return.
In Twin Peaks: The Return‘s final moments, Cooper, who goes by the name of Richard, and an adult Laura, who goes by the name of Carrie, drive to the Palmer’s house in Twin Peaks. Previously, Cooper and Diane (Laura Dern) followed the Fireman’s instructions, which led them to what seems to be a parallel universe. In this other universe, Laura Palmer wasn’t murdered by her BOB-possessed father, but she also isn’t doing too well. To get to the bottom of things, Cooper and Laura visit the Palmer house, and a stranger opens the door. Afterward, Laura starts screaming — much like she did before her death — and Cooper wonders what year it is, ending The Return on a wild cliffhanger that could be explored in Twin Peaks season 4.
At the end of Twin Peaks season 2, Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) had chained herself to a bank vault in protest. When an explosion rocked the bank, Audrey’s fate was left up in the air. It has been confirmed that she survived and ended up in a coma. While incapacitated, Audrey is assaulted by Mr. C, leading to the birth of their child, Richard (Eamon Farren). The fan-favorite Audrey only appears in a handful of scenes in The Return. For most of her screen time, she’s arguing with a man who appears to be her husband about leaving the house. She also can’t stop talking about a character called Billy.
Later, Audrey dances in the Roadhouse to her iconic theme. In her final Twin Peaks appearance, Audrey comes to in a stark white room and stares at her own aged reflection. While some viewers theorize that Audrey is still in a coma, others believe she’s living in some sort of sterile medical institute due to the trauma she endured at the hands of Mr. C. Other theories suggest that Audrey’s sequences, which seem cryptic even by Lynch’s standards, are part of a dream. For now, Audrey’s fate remains one of Twin Peaks‘ biggest unanswered questions.
Undoubtedly, Twin Peaks: The Return‘s Richard and Linda are one of the finale’s most nebulous elements — and that’s saying something. The Fireman, a being who looks a lot like the original series’ Giant, helps Cooper track down Mr. C and the evil spirit BOB. He also tells Cooper to remember a few key things, including the number 430 and the names “Richard and Linda.” After Cooper returns to Twin Peaks, he and Diane set off on another mission, driving toward the coordinates the Fireman supplied. Seemingly, the two pass into another reality or timeline. Both Cooper and Diane aren’t the same people they were previously.
No longer is Cooper optimistic or warm, but, instead, he’s completely humorless and reserved. Diane, who sees yet another double of herself in this parallel world, vanishes after she and Cooper have sex. The note she leaves behind is addressed to Richard and signed by Linda, indicating that they’ve taken on these personas. Similarly, the Laura Palmer of this world is called Carrie. With Diane asking Cooper, “Is it you?” and the amount of doubles that seem to crop up in The Return (and Lynch works in general), it’s not clear if Cooper is now stuck in a timeline where Laura lives; stuck in some extradimensional space; or living in a combination of the two.
Toward the end of Twin Peaks: The Return, Cooper travels back in time to save Laura from BOB. Essentially, it’s the end of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, but things go differently — it’s hard to say if things are better, though. When Cooper (as Richard) meets Laura (as Carrie) in the alternate timeline/world, she’s alive, but not entirely well. A waitress at the Eat at Judy’s diner in Odessa, Carrie can’t recall anything about Laura. She agrees to go to Twin Peaks with Cooper, who’s hoping to jog her memory. Before leaving, it’s revealed that Carrie is harboring a dead body in her living room.
When Cooper/Richard and Carrie/Laura arrive at the Palmer house, the owner has never heard of the Palmer family. Plus, Carrie insists that none of it is familiar. This all prompts Cooper to wonder what year it is — and where and when they are in the Twin Peaks universe. Growing more distraught, Carrie starts to hear Sarah Palmer’s voice calling out for Laura, and screams much like she did in Fire Walk With Me‘s ending. That said, Twin Peaks season 4 could delve into how Cooper’s actions impacted Laura/Carrie — and if the character is really safe from Judy and the other Lodge entities.
In episode 8 of Twin Peaks: The Return, Lynch chronicles the first nuclear bomb test. The implication is that the first use of the atomic bomb, even at a testing site, allowed for a great evil to slip into the world: BOB. The episode also chronicles the birth of a strange insect-like creature, which makes its way into the bedroom of a young girl. While the girl is sleeping, the creature crawls into her mouth. Fan theories suggest that the young girl is Sarah Palmer. After all, Sarah is possessed by the primordial evil Judy — the woman who supposedly lived above the convenience store-gateway with the other Lodge entities.
Special Agent Phillip Jeffries (David Bowie) is consistently wary of saying too much about Judy. Even Mr. C wants to know more about the mysterious entity. Gordon Cole (Lynch) says that Judy, originally called “Jowday,” has been known to the world as a god of sorts for quite some time, suggesting that Judy predates BOB. In the ending of The Return, it’s revealed that the Palmer house has been occupied by the Chalfonts and the Tremonds — both Lodge entities. If it’s the past when Cooper and Laura visit the house, then it’s clear that Judy and the Lodge beings have been targeting the Palmers for some time. However, if the year is in the future, that could have even graver implications for all three seasons of Twin Peaks.
During the sequences with Audrey, the name Billy comes up quite a bit. According to Audrey, she’d been having an affair with Billy, which she explains in detail to her supposed husband, Charlie. Other characters claim that Billy has vanished from Twin Peaks and that he was gravely injured. In the end, viewers never actually learn who Billy is or what happened to him, making the character quite a red herring. Of course, the true nature of Billy may relate to (or reveal something about) where Audrey has been throughout The Return.
Freddie, a security guard at the Great Northern, is guided by the Fireman to put on a green gardening glove. Unable to take the glove off, Freddie realizes that it gives him superhuman strength. At the end Twin Peaks season 3, Freddie winds up at the sheriff’s department, only to see BOB escape from the injured body of Mr. C. Once the real Cooper arrives, Freddie feels empowered to follow his apparent destiny, smashing the orb that contains BOB to bits. Of course, it isn’t clear if Freddie defeated BOB or unleashed even more shards of evil into the universe.
After the Trinity nuclear bomb test, terrible evils enter the world of Twin Peaks. In the wake of this moment, the entity known as Senorita Dido follows the Fireman into a theater, where he emits a golden orb containing Laura Palmer’s visage from his head. Senorita Dido kisses the orb and sends Laura Palmer to earth. Theoretically, Laura is “the one,” as the Log Lady tells Hawk — the goodness that’s meant to counteract the evils Judy slipped into the world when the bomb went off. In another scene, the Judy-possessed Sarah Palmer destroys a photograph of Laura, indicating that Judy’s true purpose could be to destroy Laura (and goodness) once and for all in Twin Peaks season 4.