‘Twin Peaks’: ranking the 10 greatest characters of David Lynch’s surreal odyssey
David Lynch and Mark Frost’s strange, intriguing, and altogether enthralling crime series, Twin Peaks, has been mystifying viewers for 35 years.
Creating a wide web of mystery that engulfed the titular down and drew audiences into a world they weren’t quite sure how to interpret, though willing to lose themselves in, the show completely changed the landscape of episodic television.
As always, Lynch refused to spell anything out, allowing each individual to draw their own interpretations, meanings, and themes from the show, which has opened the door to endless dissection and debate that’s still going strong three and a half decades after Twin Peaks first premiered.
From the original two-season run, onto the feature-length prequel, Fire Walk with Me, and back again with The Return, Lynch and Frost captivated fans by throwing a jigsaw puzzle of disparate pieces at the screen, asking them to solve its many mysteries for themselves.
If there was one thing you could always rely on from the constantly shifting world of Twin Peaks, it was a cavalcade of memorable characters. Every role, every actor, and every performance were perfectly calibrated to operate on the same wavelength as Lynch and Frost’s maverick minds, and many of them became cult figures in their own right.
With hundreds of characters to choose from, trying to whittle that number down to the best of the best is a herculean task. Everyone has their favourites, and there’s an unfortunate possibility that some of yours won’t make it into Far Out‘s ultimate ranking of Twin Peaks‘ ten greatest-ever.
The 10 best Twin Peaks characters:
Sheriff Harry S. Truman
The right-hand man of Kyle MacLachlan’s Agent Dale Cooper, Michael Ontkean’s local sheriff, Harry S Truman, was one of the defining supporting characters across the Twin Peaks universe.
A charming and dependable member of a small-town community beset by bizarre goings-on, Truman represents the best hope that Twin Peaks has, other than Cooper’s status as an outsider giving him a completely different perspective, of course.
He became one of the most beloved characters in Twin Peaks, with the trusty Truman helping to drive the central investigation forward while still finding the time to tend to the town’s smaller, less existential, and altogether pettier problems.
Donna Hayward
As the best friend of Laura Palmer, Donna Hayward is immediately critical to the investigation surrounding her death, making her one of Twin Peaks‘ most crucial characters from the first episode.
Acting as Laura’s voice, Donna was the standout from the high-schooler set who appeared throughout the show, imbuing her with intelligence and genuine kind-heartedness that made her one of Twin Peaks‘ most identifiable and personable folks.
Expertly brought to life by both Lara Flynn Boyle and Moira Kelly across the series and Fire Walk with Me, Donna gave Lynch and Frost’s surreal universe its first emotional core, becoming a key ingredient in its success as a result.
Janey-E Jones
Lynch recruited his Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire star Naomi Watts to join him in the wild world of Twin Peaks, with Janey-E Jones making her first appearance in The Return.
The wife of Dale Cooper’s doppelganger, Dougie Jones, she seems to spend most of her time cleaning up her husband’s mess. Watts effortlessly carries much of the revived series’ opening stretch, all while Cooper remains out of action in the mysterious Black Lodge.
With genuine warmth and charm, Jones instantly became one of Twin Peaks‘ most lovable characters, particularly with the way she dotes, cares for, and generally looks after the dimwitted Dougie.
Diane Evans
When Twin Peaks: The Return was first announced, it felt almost inevitable that Lynch’s longtime collaborator, Laura Dern, would eventually join him.
While Diane Evans wasn’t introduced until the show returned after a decade and a half in the wilderness, her influence has been felt since the beginning, with Cooper often recording memos addressed to ‘Diane’, sans surname.
When she did finally arrive in the flesh, audiences weren’t disappointed, with Dern’s enduring appeal and familiarity with the Lynchian making her an instant fan favourite. Peculiar and devious, Evans works closely with Cooper and Lynch’s Gordon Cole as they try to unravel the mystery of the Black Lodge.
The Man From Another Place
The Man from Another Place might not be the most frequent visitor to the Twin Peaks universe, but he’s undoubtedly among the most memorable.
Michael J Anderson’s peculiar, sinister performance was restricted to the Black Lodge, but his enigmatic nature, eye-catching fashion sense, and all-around eccentric behaviour turned him into a favourite, regardless of how often he bears bad news.
Stuck in an ethereal underworld, The Man from Another Place became one of the show’s most crucial characters because every time he appeared onscreen, it meant something big was about to go down.
Audrey Horne
Almost every series of Twin Peaks seemed to suggest that the seductive and mysterious Audrey Horne had something to do with the bizarre mysteries that unfolded in the sleepy town.
Time and time again, though, she constantly proved that she was a great deal more loyal than she seemed. In the hands of Sherilyn Fenn, Audrey became an iconic character from the second she appeared in the pilot episode, and was a staple of Twin Peaks.
Her on-again-off-again infatuation with Agent Cooper became one of the show’s most popular recurring subplots, and her combination of glamour and sophistication symbolised a series that was, and remains, one of the most stylish episodic shows of all time.
Leland Palmer
Even though he’s ultimately revealed to be his daughter’s killer, Ray Wise was an inspired choice for a David Lynch project, with his arched eyebrows and piercing eyes making him the perfect ham.
Despite the terrible things he does, Leland Palmer is often an absolute joy to watch, especially when Wise dials his performance way past ten and begins inhaling the scenery after losing himself to the grip of the evil entity, Bob.
Leland owns some of the funniest and most iconic moments from the show, and even though his villainy becomes more grandiose as Twin Peaks progresses, his eccentric insanity was a constant highlight.
The Giant
A spectre of grief and a grim reaper of sorts who announces the deaths of several characters, The Giant only appears when it’s time to deliver some particularly grim news to Agent Cooper.
Ominously portrayed by Carel Struycken, the towering pale character is a strange totem to the series’ ethereal terror and endearing charm, with the actor somehow making him both eerily intimidating and oddly comforting.
Alongside The Man from Another Place, The Giant is one of the few genuinely otherworldly characters in Twin Peaks, recurring throughout as a bearer of hints, clues, and bombshells, although it remains up for debate if he’s the same entity as The Fireman.
Laura Palmer
The identity of Laura Palmer’s killer seized the zeitgeist in the 1990s, making her the key to the enigma that the Twin Peaks universe revolved around.
In lesser hands than Lynch, Frost, and Sheryl Lee, Laura could have been reduced to little more than a prop, a vessel used to drive the overarching mystery forward. Instead, the actor appears several times as both Laura and her identical cousin Maddy Ferguson, with her likeness becoming an unnerving reminder of Twin Peaks‘ narrative driving force.
Laura’s death may have set everything in motion, but her function went well beyond that.
Special Agent Dale Cooper
Who else could be named the greatest character in Twin Peaks besides the greatest character of all time?
Invigorated by a powerful obsession with cherry pie, doughnuts, and especially coffee, Dale Cooper is a wise sage who seems to be able to make sense of the mystery, piloting the investigation to find the murderer of Laura Palmer.
Leading the whole show, and carrying its endearing identity, Dale Cooper, played by the eternally likeable Kyle MacLachlan, is one of American television’s most iconic characters.
“I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange,” he famously said, with the fervent detective that leads David Lynch’s dreamlike mystery foreshadowing both the flourishing future of the iconic series as well as the influential changes it would bring to serialised television.
All episodes of Twin Peaks launch on MUBI on 13 June in the US, UK, Latin America, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Netherlands and India.
