Kyle MacLachlan finally explains an unexpected ‘twist’ from ‘Twin Peaks’ over 30 years later

Despite having originally aired for only two seasons on ABC from 1990 to 1991, the enduring popularity of Twin Peaks continues to this day. The mystery serial drama created by Mark Frost and David Lynch even got a third season on Showtime in 2017, Twin Peaks: The Return, which thrilled and perplexed fans in equal parts.

Twin Peaks is still likewise the best know role for Kyle MacLachlan, who starred as Special Agent Dale Cooper, the FBI operative initially tasked with solving the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer. As such, fans continue to ask MacLachlan about the series even in 2023, as in fact one did this week.

“Hey Kyle MacLachlan, can you please explain what this wonderful little twist at the end is?” tweeted the fan, along with a 10-second clip of the fourth episode of the first season.

Hours later, MacLachlan obliged, albeit with a bit of an anticlimactic explanation. “Thought I was off camera,” he quipped.

In the scene, Agent Cooper, Sheriff Harry S. Truman, and Deputy Andy Brennan arrive at the Timber Falls Motel to question the “one-armed man” Philip Gerard (played by actor Al Strobel, who died late last year at 83), when Andy drops the gun and it goes off. For over three decades it has appeared as though MacLachlan improvised the move in reaction to the blast — whether or not it was truly because he believed he was off camera.

In either case, it’s hardly the strangest moment to occur over the course of the series, and that’s really saying something.