Twin Peaks: How A Set Decorator Became The Show’s Biggest Villain

Twin Peaks is one of the oddest and most-compelling shows ever produced, and sometimes accidents on set would become part of the storyline. One, in particular, took place during the filming of the pilot episode, creating what would become the show’s most important and long-standing villain, Killer BOB.

Twin Peaks premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990. Although the original show only ran for two seasons, it quickly gained a cult following that remains active even 30 years later. Twin Peaks is very strange with surreal imagery, offbeat humor, and an uncanny tone along with the frequent use of horror elements and tropes. These are only some of the elements for which creator David Lynch has become known. In Twin Peaks, characters, events, and storylines are explored in unusual and artsy ways.

During the filming of the pilot episode of Twin Peaks, the face of a set dresser named Frank Silva was accidentally captured in a reflection on camera. When David Lynch saw it, he liked the way it appeared, and decided he’d use the footage. So, he cast Silva as Bob. Of course, at the time, there was no backstory for this character, and no one, not even showrunners David Lynch and Mark Frost knew how important he would become for the Twin Peaks canon.

Twin Peaks: How An Accidental Reflection Became Killer BOB

On the set of most television shows and movies, if something is accidentally captured on camera that’s not supposed to be there, the scene is reshot. However, David Lynch approaches filmmaking in a unique way. For him, it’s a true art form and, just like an unintended smudge on a painting is incorporated into the final piece, so too can a reflection sometimes become one of the most important moments in the creation of a television show. For Twin Peaks, that smudge was set dresser Frank Silva.

As it turned out, Frank Silva had been a set dresser on several of David Lynch’s projects before Twin Peaks, including Wild at Heart and Dune, so he was familiar with Lynch’s style. As Twin Peaks evolved, details of Silva’s character began to emerge and Killer BOB was born. Killer BOB was an evil spirit from the Black Lodge that possesses people to do horrible things, and has a large part to play in the death of Laura Palmer.

Even as the show progressed and viewers began to learn more about the Black Lodge and how its inhabitants work, Killer BOB became a mainstay. At the end of season 2 of Twin Peaks—the finale of the original series—Agent Cooper ventures into the Black Lodge and confronts Killer BOB. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, but the story was picked up in season 3, which aired on Showtime in 2017. Unfortunately, Frank Silva passed away before production began on Twin Peaks: The Return, but archival footage is used to portray Killer BOB. In the end, one of the most important villains in the Twin Peaks canon started out as a mere accident.

About The Author