The author of a new book about Twin Peaks has said that the late David Lynch “weaponised the TV reboot” when he brought the show back.
- READ MORE: David Lynch – 1946-2025: a true visionary who reinvented cinema
Filmmaker Lynch created Twin Peaks, the surreal mystery series about an FBI agent (Kyle MacLachlan) investigating the disappearance of a young woman in the titular town. The show ran for two seasons between 1990 and 1991 and is considered one of the great TV cult classics. A film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, was released in 1992, while the show was revived for a third season, titled Twin Peaks: The Return, in 2017.
Scott Meslow, the author of A Place Both Wonderful And Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History Of Twin Peaks, spoke to The Times about the show’s history and influence, in particular how the show’s return bucked the trend. At a time when many beloved TV shows of the past were being revived, Meslow said Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost “weaponised the TV reboot.” “They said, ‘Maybe we can smuggle some art on to TV’” he added.
The season would be Lynch’s final work before his death in January 2025. The author compared it to ‘Blackstar’, the last album by David Bowie, which retrospectively seems to show the artist reflecting on his mortality just months before his death in January 2016. Meslow called both the album and series the work of “a singular artist reaching the apex near the end of their career and their life.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Meslow recalled the unusual direction he would give during shooting. “Every actor I talked to adored Lynch,” he said, recalling an anecdote told to him by Russ Tamblyn, who played Dr Jacoby. “One of his directions was, ‘Russ, do it again. But this time, forget the lines and just think about ghosts.’”
Earlier this month, David Lynch’s family announced that they would release the scripts for his final, unrealised project, Unrecorded Night.
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