Several guest actors participated in Twin Peaks throughout the years, including the talented rock star David Bowie, who had a role in the movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Especially in the show’s revival, which aired in 2017, many movie stars joined the cast of what’s David Lynch’s most ambitious project in a long time. The original show goes on for two seasons and revolves around the mysterious death of Laura Palmer, a teenager who kept terrifying secrets from her family and friends. The story resumed 25 years later, reuniting characters both old and new to solve the mystery of Twin Peaks once and for all.
While he’s well-known for his groundbreaking music and his iconic stage presence, David Bowie also had a movie career, starring in the ’80s fantasy classic Labyrinth and playing Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, a sci-fi drama that reimagines real-life events. Bowie also appears in the prologue of the theatrically released Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, which recounts Laura Palmer’s final days, and in Twin Peaks: Missing Pieces, a special anthology release that compiled plenty of interesting extra footage from the franchise.
David Bowie Plays Phillip Jeffries In Twin Peaks
David Bowie plays a vital, yet significantly small role in Twin Peaks: the captivating Phillip Jeffries, one of the best FBI agents working under Bureau Chief Gordon Cole (David Lynch). Respected and adored by everyone in the office, Jeffries is assigned as the head of a task force called Blue Rose, but he goes missing in Buenos Aires while investigating someone named “Judy.” Curiously, that is the name of the main antagonist in Twin Peaks‘ revival.
In Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Jeffries suddenly appears in Gordon Cole’s office after no one has heard from him for two years. Highly hysterical and visibly scared, Jeffries mumbles about Judy before disturbing visions of Bob and the Arm disrupt his reasoning, causing him to disappear right in front of the agents’ eyes. Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Cole rewatch the office’s camera footage and conclude that Jeffries was indeed there, but his disappearance is beyond understanding.
Jeffries Appears In Twin Peaks: The Return (But Not Bowie)
Twin Peaks: The Return was filmed while David Bowie was battling cancer. The actor/singer decided to keep the illness a secret while he was alive, which explains why he declined David Lynch’s request to reprise his role. However, Phillip Jeffries appears in the Twin Peaks revival in a puzzling form: a white glowing orb emerging from a giant tea kettle. Jeffries’ voice is dubbed by Nathan Frizzell as he communicates with Agent Cooper’s evil Doppelgänger. Appearing in Gordon Cole’s dream, footage of Bowie’s scene in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is important in The Return since it reveals crucial information about Judy, a disturbing entity introduced in the revival.
