Kyle MacLachlan’s Surprising New Character Just Gave Us Twin Peaks Deja Vu 34 Years Later

Warning! Spoilers for Amazon’s Fallout series ahead!

Kyle MacLachlan’s appearance in Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout is giving fans of the mystery series Twin Peaks déjà vu more than 30 years later. Based on the video game series of the same name, Fallout follows Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) who was a Vault Dweller, aka someone who lived in one of the large fallout shelters created during a nuclear war in an alternate history of Earth. Lucy leaves the safety of the Vaults in order to find her father in a devastated Los Angeles, meeting new allies with agendas of their own along the way.

The series was created by Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet and premiered on Amazon Prime Video in 2024. Amazon had bought the rights to produce the project in 2020, with Kilter Films and Bethesda Game Studios signing on to executive produce. The first season received critical success with a 92% critic score and several reviews praising many aspects of the show on Rotten Tomatoes, according to Screen Rant.

Fallout’s De-Aged Kyle MacLachlan Is An Instant Reminder Of His Time On Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks premiered on April 8, 1990 on ABC

Kyle MacLachlan’s appearance as Hank MacLean shocked many fans as his de-aged countenance in episode 8 reminded many of his time as Dale Cooper on the 1990s run of Twin Peaks. MacLachlan’s de-aged Hank appears in a critical flashback with Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) which reveals a startling truth about Fallout’s nuclear war and apocalypse in the show. While this was not MacLachlan’s only role in the 1990s (he appeared as Ray Manzarek in the biopic The Doors at the time), it was his most notable, with the series having a few coincidental nods to Twin Peaks.

Kyle MacLachlan’s Twin Peaks Role Oddly Shares Things In Common With Fallout

MacLachlan’s character in the Fallout show shares some personality traits with his Twin Peaks counterpart, amplifying the few small nods to the mystery series. Hank meets Cooper Howard in the flashback, which becomes a fun tip of the hat to Twin Peaks as MacLachlan’s character was Dale Cooper. The comparisons continue as Dale was known for giving a thumbs up throughout the series, which is a large aspect of Fallout as Vault-Tec’s mascot, Vault Boy, is shown with a thumbs up, with Cooper originating the move.

The two characters also share many personality traits, including their determination and intelligence. However, Dale’s compassion and lack of skepticism contrast Hank’s desire for control and belief that Vault-Tec’s ideals are the only path to a peaceful society. Hank’s actions against the Shady Sands town prove his desire to achieve those goals no matter the cost, both contrasting Dale’s strong desire to defend others and somewhat complimenting Dale’s later recklessness upon his return in Twin Peaks.