Twin Peaks Cast Ranking

The main/main recurring cast: 

1. Kyle MacLachlan as Special Agent Dale Cooper - a brilliant performance that's so funny, endearing, haunting, poignant, everything in one bag, that carries the series' unique tone beautifully, and gosh that final episode is an amazing cliffhanger and I can't wait to see what he and Lynch have done with ol' Coop in The Return. 

2. Ray Wise as Leland Palmer - another amazing performance that builds up the mystery and intrigue around his character along some ol' kooky Lynchian quirks and humour, and makes his character's arc equal parts terrifying and heartbreaking. 

3. Richard Beymer as Benjamin Horne - loved his performance as a terrible and immoral individual who's just so loveable at the same time, everything he does whether it's slimy or well-intentioned or both is so entertaining, his dramatic moments are terrific as well, and I loved his whole arc of a bad man becoming a somewhat better father, if not necessarily a better man. 

4. Sherilyn Fenn as Audrey Horne - sad to hear apparently she doesn't appear much in the new series because she's wonderful here, and I don't think the series treats her all that fairly though Lynch seems to love the character, heck by the finale she returns back to the great Audrey Horne heights which is being just the most endearing and engaging young lady who's so entertaining to watch whether she's blackmailing sleazy men or romancing Coop or just dancing, and she has great chemistry with almost everyone she interacts with on the show. 

5. Russ Tamblyn as Dr Lawrence Jacoby - a walking ball of bizzaro and I thoroughly loved every second of his absolutely bonkers performance as an absolutely bonkers doctor, hilarious comic relief but also surprisingly heartbreaking too at certain points. Any scene with him is a great scene. 

6. Dana Ashbrook as Bobby Briggs - kinda what Steve in Stranger Things should've been, he rides the perfect line between melodramatic bully that's pretty hilarious, and goofy and inept dumbass that's also very entertaining, but in his more serious dramatic moments especially with his onscreen father and Shelly he's just perfect as well. Could've been a very boring performance but he's one of the mot entertaining performers. 

7. Everett McGill as Ed Hurley - just a great performance throughout as perhaps the most honourable and righteous member of the Twin Peaks community, every dramatic moment with him and his romance with Norma has such gravitas, and he's hilarious as the straight man to Nadine as well. 

8. Sheryl Lee as Laura Palmer/Maddy Ferguson - such an amazing performance as both ladies with such limited material, and I can't wait to see Fire Walk With Me. How she jumps from being so haunting to so charming to so sympathetic to so terrifying is just incredible. 

9. Jack Nance as Pete Martell - shame that I already know I won't be seeing good ol' Pete again, he's such a delight as the lovable ol' goofy geezer who can make you smile with just his facial expressions, a sweet guy. Such great comedic timing and chemistry with his onscreen wife. 

10. Harry Goaz as Deputy Sheriff Andy Brennan - great comic relief throughout, all the law enforcement fellas work so well together it has to be said. Brennan's take on the clumsy but kindhearted deputy with a heart of gold is one of my favourites and he nails every moment with his earnest and just, though sometimes a bit inept, character. 

11. Piper Laurie as Catherine Martell - incisive, biting throughout with just the right amount of sweetness, though mostly artificial, and she's a perfect casting choice through and through as someone who'll get what she wants no matter what. Her more lighthearted moments are great too. 

12. Peggy Lipton as Norma Jennings - one of the great underrated performances of the series, including by myself at the beginning, as she really makes you care for her character's plight and delivers such a lovely, endearing but always very realistic and grounded performance that adds such gravitas. 

13. Kimmy Robertson as Lucy Moran - simple role but hilarious throughout with great chemistry with Goaz, Buchanan, and actually all the law enforcement individuals. Just her voice is bound to elicit some aws and chuckles, and makes Lucy one of the most sweet characters of Lynch and Frost. 

14. Michael Horse as Hawk - wonderful and unfussy performance, Horse is such a generous performer as he never tries to overshadow anyone but insteads amplifies everyone's performances with his low-key and always charismatic portrayal of a quiet badass. 

15. Mädchen Amick as Shelly Johnson - another great generous performance, as Amick just lights up the screen whenver she's on, she can be funny, she can be charming, she can be heartbreaking, and makes use of any given moment she has. Can't wait to see what's in store for her in Season 3. 

16. Joan Chen as Jocelyn Packard - she has a few slightly iffy moments in the beginning of the series and actually midway through when Josie is at her most innocent/ignorant-seeming, but when she fully embraces her manipulative, mysterious, desperate femme fatale side she's actually pretty great. 

17. Warren Frost as Dr. Will Hayward - a nice low-key performance as the kindhearted doc, I don't like what they do with his character later on in the series but it's not his fault and he does his best with it. 

18. Michael Ontkean as Sheriff Harry S. Truman - great all throughout the Laura Palmer mystery plot as the straight man, unfortunately later on in Season 2 he has some truly awful moments as the angry and drunken sheriff, but really those are nitpicks. He's mostly pretty great throughout as a perfect counterpoint to ol' Coop. 

19. James Marshall as James Hurley - hate to put him so low as I truly think he has some great scenes like of course 'Just You', and actually any scene involving him dealing with the Laura Palmer tragedy is fantastic. Unfortunately he later gets an exceptionally terrible subplot and then just disappears. I hope he's handled better in The Return. 

20. Eric Da Re as Leo Johnson - has the misfortune to be in a pretty thankless role as firstly the brute thug and later on the comatose thug and lastly, Frankenstein's monster with a conscience. I don't find he could do anything all that remarkable up till his final few episodes where I actually thought he was kind of moving. 

21. Kenneth Welsh as Windom Earle - he genuinely has some great sleazy moments as the more uncontrolled and menacing Windom, unfortunately most of the time he's way too goofy to be taken all that seriously. I'd have loved to see Terrence Stamp in the role. 

22. Lara Flynn Boyle as Donna Hayward - an up-and-down performance. Starts off pretty good as the grieving best friend, gets progressively worse and drops into some downright atrocious acting to begin season 2, thankfully she improves considerably later on in the series. Also, she does have a pretty good stretch of episodes with Harold Smith, though I'd say she's a bit overshadowed in those too. 

1 - 15 all great/very good and pretty much flawless, 16 - 19 with some low points but largely very good, 20 limited, and 21 and 22 with good moments but largely pretty flawed.

The guest stars:

1. Don S. Davis as Major Garland Briggs - amazing performance that is the mysterious major, the loving father, the endearingly weird conspiracy theorist, reminds me a bit of Roger Livesey as Colonel Blimp in a weird way, any scene with him is amazing especially his description of his dream to Bobby, and he might actually be my favourite performance scene-by-scene in the series, though Maclachlan and Wise would take the crown for the overall. I'm so glad that he came out alright. 

2. Miguel Ferrer as Special Agent Albert Rosenfield - one of the greatest deadpan comic performances I've ever seen, and it's great to see the jerkass from Robocop play such a different kind of jerkass. Every line of Albert's is pitch-perfect in delivery and writing, as every snarky comment hits just the right spot, and how he manages to make Albert somewhat moving in his own way is remarkable as well. I am so looking forward to see how he fares in Season 3. 

3. Al Strobel as Phillip Michael Gerard / MIKE ("The One-Armed Man") - glad he's in The Return too. A very terrifying but also strangely compelling performance as a truly twisted individual, but also one trying to do good, it shouldn't really work but Strobel makes it work perfectly. Also, those two voices, damn. 

4. Catherine E. Coulson as Margaret Lanterman ("The Log Lady") - amazing in every short scene she has, she's hilarious whenever she and her log are used for comic effect, but when her character is required to be utilized in a serious scene she knocks it out the park as well. Wish we got more of her and Major Briggs, actually. 

5. David Lynch as Bureau Chief Gordon Cole - well that was unexpected, I was expecting Lynch to play someone creepy and not the most heartwarming boss every, as he utilizes everything about his character's quirky condition and optimistic nature to full effect. 

6. David Patrick Kelly as Jerry Horne - him and Ben are one of my favourite duos ever, as they're so sleazy yet endearing together. In addition, by himself he has some great scenes like his ridiculous lawyer routine. 

7. Grace Zabriskie as Sarah Palmer - not in that many episodes and with limited screentime, but every moment she's onscreen is a magnificent portrayal of unhinged grief and resulting madness. 

8. Lenny Von Dohlen as Harold Smith - great performance that leaves an impact even with such few episodes. He amplifies Boyle's performance to such a great extent, and makes Harold such a sympathetic and touching presence, and his exit really has that appropriate haunting effect. 

9. Carel Struycken as The Giant - so much more than just a prop or visual touch to have a giant, as Struycken makes this otherwordly being such a compelling figure in so few scenes and with so little dialogue. 

10. Frank Silva as Killer BOB - inspired casting choice doesn't even come close to describing it, as BOB is really one of the most frightening creations of Lynch ever, and a large part of that goes to Silva's effortlessly scary performance that particularly excels in specific episodes where he goes full loony. 

11. Ian Buchanan as Dick Tremayne - Not Dean Stockwell is nevertheless the perfect replacement for him, I'd assume, Dick is just another bohemian classy sophisticate like Ben but also a complete sleaze, and every moment he's onscreen is a comic delight. I loved seeing him play off Goaz in particular. 

12. Hank Worden as The Elderly Room Service Waiter - his style works here perfectly as the kindly and slightly senile waiter, and when the revelations come it completely makes sense as well. 

13. Wendy Robie as Nadine Hurley - they overdo her story a bit towards the middle of season 2 but she's largely a pretty entertaining crazed woman and has some strangely endearing chemistry with McGill. A difficult role and she largely pulls it off, so well done. 

14. David Duchnovy as Denise Bryson - surprisingly unmannered in this sort of role, and it's definitely appreciated as Duchnovy delivers a great burst of comedic energy to every scene he's in. 

15. Michael J. Anderson as The Man from Another Place - every Red Room scene is great and he's a large part of why. Particularly great in the last episode; great performance though limited by screentime. 

16. Chris Mulkey as Hank Jennings - a good performance in a limited role as he brings out the right amount of thuggishness underlying a certain joviality in his exterior, he's one of the more obvious characters on the show but he does well with it. 

17. Dan O'Herlihy as Andrew Packard - liked his kooky portrayal as a less than ingenuous old man, they could have given him a bit more screentime with Josie and Pete in particular, but I liked his performance. 

18. James Booth as Ernie Niles - funny to see him as another cowardly sort after Zulu, although his character here doesn't have any real redemptive arc. Booth is a fairly good ball of sleaze and his last few appearances in the series are particualrly effective in showing an increasing desperation. 

19. Victoria Catlin as Blackie O'Reilly - a good performance as the sultry and manipulative sort, although I do think her story was cut off just when it began to get interesting. 

20. Gary Hershberger as Mike Nelson - ah, poor Mike, well he's a decent enough bully, a funny enough lover of Nadine's, and I do like his scenes with Ashbrook as well, so well done. 

21. David Warner as Thomas Eckhardt - underused, he should have played Windom Earle actually, but Warner effortlessly conveys the right amount of sleaze and twisted love for Josie in his few scenes. 

22. Mary Jo Deschanel as Eileen Hayward - barely anything to do throughout but I did quite like what she did with her character towards the end of Season 2. 

23. John Boylan as Mayor Dwayne Milford - actually liked his whole inept mayor routine to begin with but it soon became pretty tiresome. Not bad but a little bit of Dwayne went a long way. 

24. Michael Parks as Jean Renault - what a waste of a great actor, another one who could've played Windom, anyway Parks isn't really bad but Jean Renault is just such a boring villain. He's mildly meancing and kind of incisive in a way, but nothing too memorable. 

25. Robyn Lively as Lana Budding Milford - one of my least favourite characters. She's never truly bad but Lana's presence in the series just always takes away from more interesting subplots. 

26. Billy Zane as John Justice Wheeler - another awful character and honestly not fit to shine the shoes of Audrey, but Zane isn't terrible, not truly terrible anyway, he's just really bland. 

27. Annette McCarthy and Nicholas Love as Evelyn Marsh and Malcolm Sloan - the worst individual subplot in the whole thing and neither of them help matters, they really just turn Twin Peaks into a momentarily awful soap opera. 

28. Heather Graham as Annie Blackburn - her subplot isn't a waste since it does set up Cooper's entering the Lodge, however, her performance itself is absolutely grating not necessarily because Graham is truly awful, she's just very dull and nothing about her character or performance itself is compelling. 

1 - 9 are all amazing in their own ways, 10 - 15 all pretty great, 16 - 22 decent, 23 - 24 a mixed bag, 25 - 28 not very good.