Theory: David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive Is A Twin Peaks Movie

Mulholland Drive is a Twin Peaks movie according to one theory, with many of David Lynch’s themes and ideas rippling through both the series and the movie. Could Mulholland Drive be part of the Twin Peaks universe?

Twin Peaks is a television series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. It first premiered in 1990 and combines elements of a mystery, drama, and horror. However, the most striking part about it is how unusual it is. It’s surreal, uncanny, and has supernatural elements, with odd characters and symbolic imagery. For years, it has had a cult following, surrounded by fan theories and interpretations. Although it was originally canceled after only two seasons, season 3 aired in 2017 on Showtime, which answered some fan questions and succeeded in raising others. David Lynch has hinted at the possibility for season 4 of Twin Peaks as well.

In between the first two seasons of Twin Peaks and 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return, David Lynch wrote and produced one of his most well-known movies: Mulholland Drive. Like all of Lynch’s work, it’s strange, symbolic, and disturbing. Mulholland Drive came out in 2001. It tells the story of a budding Hollywood actress named Betty who meets and befriends an amnesiac woman after a car accident. At first, it seems like everything is going really well until viewers realize that Betty is actually Diane who is forced to return to her reality and face the horrific consequences of her actual life. This dichotomy of dreams and reality is also explored in Twin Peaks, but there are other similarities as well.

How Mulholland Drive Is A Twin Peaks Movie

In the last act of Mulholland Drive, Diane is jaded by Hollywood and is pushed to the breaking point when her girlfriend, Rita, leaves her for a movie director (Justin Theroux). From there, according to the theory, her soul is desperate enough to be claimed by the same place that takes Laura Palmer’s soul in Twin Peaks: The Black Lodge.

The Black Lodge is a place where various denizens seem to live in a perpetual dream state. Agents from The Black Lodge go out into the world to claim souls to bring back, as Agent Cooper discovers in Twin Peaks when he tries to free Laura and take on Killer BOB, the agent who claimed her soul. This same process appears to take place at the end of Mulholland Drive. Diane, in a desperate state, hires a hitman at Winkie’s Diner to kill her ex-girlfriend. This particular hitman, however, is either possessed by the Man Behind Winkie’s or is a different manifestation of him, and, according to the theory, is an agent of The Black Lodge. He tells her that when he’s finished, she’ll find a blue key. In this way, she “sells her soul to the devil” and sets in motion the final scenes of the movie.

It begins with the Man Behind Winkie’s putting the blue box down on the ground. From it emerge tiny versions of the old couple seen at the beginning of the film. They are possessing spirits of The Black Lodge. Next, the movie cuts to Diane in her apartment staring at the blue key, which signals to her that the deed is done. Then, the room begins to strobe blue, just as it does when Killer BOB comes to Laura, and the tiny elderly couple squeeze under the door, grow large, and come after her. They chase her, giddy with excitement over consuming her “garmonbozia“. At the last second, however, Diane picks up a gun and shoots herself, freeing her soul and saving it from The Black Lodge. If this theory is true, then Mulholland Drive really is a Twin Peaks movie. Plus, even Laura Palmer is in it.

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