List of Twin Peaks characters
The following is an incomplete list of characters from the television series Twin Peaks, the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and the 2017 revival.
Overview
Supernatural/Otherworldly
Bob
was a set decorator who worked on the pilot episode. One day, when he was moving furniture in Laura Palmer's bedroom, a woman warned Silva not to get locked in the room. The image of Silva trapped in the room sparked something in Lynch, who then asked Silva if he was an actor. Silva said yes, and Lynch told him that he had a role in mind for him on the series. Silva accepted, and Lynch shot footage of him behind Laura's bed with no real idea of what he would do with it.Silva's reflection was accidentally caught in the footage of Sarah Palmer's frightening vision at the end of the pilot. Sarah sees a hand uncovering Laura's heart necklace from the ground, and Silva can be seen in the mirror behind her head. Lynch was made aware of this accident and decided to keep Silva in the scene.
Mike
Mike made his appearance in the pilot episode which was only originally intended to be a "kind of homage to The Fugitive. The only thing he was gonna do was be in this elevator and walk out." However, when Lynch wrote the "fire walk with me" speech, he imagined Mike saying it in the basement of the Twin Peaks hospital - a scene that would appear in an alternative version of the pilot episode, and surface later in Agent Cooper's dream sequence. Mike's alias, Phillip Michael Gerard, is also a reference to Lieutenant Phillip Gerard, a character in The Fugitive.The Man from Another Place
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 the project ultimately fell through.While editing the alternate ending of the foreign version of the pilot episode, an idea occurred to Lynch on his way home one day: "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."
FBI / DEA
Special Agent Dale Cooper
Special Agent Dale Cooper, played by Kyle MacLachlan, is the protagonist of the series. Cooper is an FBI agent who arrives in Twin Peaks in 1989 to investigate the brutal murder of popular high-school student Laura Palmer. He falls in love with the town and gains a great deal of acceptance within the tightly knit community. Cooper displays an array of quirky, whimsical mannerisms, such as giving a "thumbs up" when satisfied, sage-like sayings, and a distinctive sense of humor, along with his love for cherry pie and "a damn fine cup of coffee." One of his most popular habits is recording messages containing everyday observations and abstract thoughts on his current case to his secretary, Diane, into a microcassette recorder he carries. His investigative techniques go far beyond the FBI's usual ones, including intuitive exercises and analysis of his dreams. He becomes deeply involved with the inhabitants of Twin Peaks and remains in town after the resolution of the Laura Palmer case, especially once his nemesis and former partner Windom Earle starts menacing the town in order to exploit its supernatural properties.Albert Rosenfield
Albert Rosenfield, played by Miguel Ferrer, is a talented forensic analyst Dale Cooper calls in to assist on the Laura Palmer case. He is also an original member of the Blue Rose Task Force and by 2014, is the only member who has not disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Rosenfield's abrasive and mocking personality alienates the Twin Peaks sheriff's department relatively quickly; he compares Andy to a dog and repeatedly insults Sheriff Harry S. Truman to the point where Truman punches him. He also fights with Doc Hayward and harshly disparages the local police and medical facilities, showing respect only to his FBI colleagues, at least at first.A later appearance, and another conflict with Truman, lead to an emotional moment where Rosenfield exposes a pacifist nature seemingly at odds with his acerbic surface persona, to the sheriff's shock. Albert returns to Twin Peaks after Maddy Ferguson's murder and is visibly affected by the crime; he is present when Killer BOB's identity is revealed, leading to a moment when he discusses with Cooper, Truman, and Major Briggs the nature of the evil they have confronted.
Albert warms up to the townsfolk of Twin Peaks as the series progresses, going so far as to hug Truman when returning to the town to help with their hunt for Windom Earle, but does not lose his sharp and sardonic manner.
Albert has a minor role in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, appearing in the FBI offices with Gordon Cole during the reappearance of Phillip Jeffries, and later as a skeptical listener of Cooper's seeming premonition about the next murder victim.
He also appears briefly in The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes, under the entry recorded on February 4, 1977. It is implied that this is Dale Cooper's and his first meeting. This makes Albert 21 when the two first meet, according to the My Life, My Tapes canon.
After Cooper's doppelgänger is arrested in South Dakota in 2016, Albert investigates his apparent reappearance, alongside Gordon Cole and Tamara Preston. He later discloses to Cole that he was apparently contacted by Jeffries, which resulted in the death of an agent stationed in Colombia. Albert, along with Cole, also convinces Diane Evans, Cooper's former secretary, to speak to the doppelgänger, after which Diane confirms the incarcerated man is not the real Cooper.
Albert later takes part in the investigation of an apparent double homicide, also in South Dakota, after a headless corpse bearing Garland Briggs's fingerprints is found with the severed head of high-school librarian Ruth Davenport. During the investigation, Albert begins to form a relationship with Constance Talbot, the local police department's coroner.
Chester Desmond
Chester Desmond, played by Chris Isaak, is a taciturn Special Agent with the FBI who is called out by his boss, Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole, to investigate the murder of a 17-year-old girl named Teresa Banks, who was found wrapped in plastic. Desmond is introduced to his new partner, Special Agent Sam Stanley, and receives coded clues in the form of Lil the Dancer. Desmond and Stanley then begin their investigation by driving to a rural town called Deer Meadow.A few days into the investigation, Desmond mysteriously disappears after picking up a ring later seen to be owned by the Man from Another Place. His disappearance is reported to Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole, who then dispatches Special Agent Dale Cooper to pick up where Desmond left off. Desmond's disappearance is never explained, although Cooper discovers that Desmond's car has been vandalized with the words "LET'S ROCK", the same words spoken by the Man from Another Place when he introduces himself, implying that Desmond was taken to the Black Lodge.
Desmond is briefly mentioned in the 2017 series, where he is revealed to have been one of the original members of the Blue Rose Task Force, alongside Cooper, Phillip Jeffries, and Albert Rosenfield.
FBI Special Agent Sam Stanley
FBI Special Agent Sam Stanley, played by Kiefer Sutherland, assists Special Agent Desmond in the investigation of the murder of Teresa Banks. Gordon Cole mentions that he cracked the Whitman case. He is portrayed as being somewhat stiff and inflexible, in contrast to the laid-back demeanor of Desmond; at one point Desmond manages to make Stanley spill coffee on himself when he asks what time it is.Stanley was mentioned in the series pilot, during the scene in which Agent Cooper is examining Laura Palmer's body. He speaks into his dictaphone: "Give this to Albert and his team; don't go to Sam; Albert seems to have a little more on the ball."
Phillip Jeffries
Phillip Jeffries, played by David Bowie and voiced by Nathan Frizzell in the 2017 series, is an FBI agent who disappeared for years studying paranormal and supernatural happenings. In Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Jeffries suddenly exits an elevator in the Philadelphia FBI office, two years after his disappearance. He hurries to the office of his former superior, Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole and starts raving in a loud and disturbed manner, referring at one stage to Special Agent Cooper and yelling "Who do you think this is, there?"Jeffries goes on to narrate where he has been since his disappearance. He mentions names and incidents that are unfamiliar to those listening. His words are illustrated by the intrusion of a ghost transmission showing a small group of characters, including the Man from Another Place and BOB, in a series of strange rooms.
He disappears into thin air once again after announcing "I found something... and then there they were!"
Jeffries is frequently mentioned in the 2017 series, which reveals that he was the original leader of the Blue Rose Task Force and was involved in the first Blue Rose case, alongside Cole. An unseen individual identifying as him assigns Ray Monroe to kill Cooper's doppelgänger. Albert Rosenfield also informs Cole that he was contacted by an individual claiming to be Jeffries, which led to the killing of an agent stationed in Colombia. Cole later re-experiences Jeffries' sudden reappearance in a dream and remembers Jeffries' comment about Cooper, implying that Cooper may have been an imposter.
With the death of Bowie, Jeffries is depicted as a grey orb right by a giant steaming kettle in a room above the convenience store. Cooper's doppelganger approached it, after receiving info on his whereabouts from Ray Monroe. Dale Cooper later encounters Jeffries to access 1989 to rescue Laura Palmer in "Part 17".