One highlight from the Real Twin Peaks 2026 event was a conversation with Twin Peaks writer and producer Harley Peyton. Fans from around the world gathered in the historic North Bend Theatre in North Bend, Washington as authors John Thorne and Scott Ryan spoke with Peyton about his Emmy Award-nominated work on the groundbreaking television series.
CONVERSATION WITH ‘TWIN PEAKS’ WRITER AND PRODUCER HARLEY PEYTON
On Saturday, February 21, 2026 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., hundreds of Twin Peaks fans attended the Conversation with Harley Peyton at the North Bend Theatre located at 125 Bendigo Boulevard North, North Bend, Washington. Authors Scott Ryan (“Twin Peaks: Through the Red Curtain” and editor of “Blue Rose Magazine) and John Thorne (“Wrapped in Plastic” magazine, “Ominous Whoosh: A Wandering Mind Returns to Twin Peaks“). The trio spoke for about 40 minutes and then handful of attendees asked Harley questions about his experiences.
Here is an hour-long video of Harley’s conversation at the theatre.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM HARLEY PEYTON’S CONVERSATION
Around 11:00 a.m., Vinnie Guidera welcomed everyone to the North Bend Theatre and thanked a few sponsors and individuals. Vinnie served as panel program master this year, curating interesting and insightful free panel discussions on Thursday through Sunday. We have learned a lot since the first panel discussions held on one day in 2023. This year’s schedule was fantastic and offered a balanced and flexible agenda.
I loved seeing Twin Peaks fans fill the North Bend Theatre for this conversation. Thanks to a sponsorship from the Snoqualmie Inn (located at 35228 Snoqualmie Pkwy), this event was free to attend. I counted more 200 folks in the theatre to hear from Harley.
This conversation was a big deal in the Twin Peaks fan community. Mark Frost and David Lynch are most notably associated with the creation of the wonderful and strange show more than 35 years ago. If I were to add a third person who shaped the first two seasons of the show, it would be Harley. He was behind beloved characters like Harold Smith and superhuman strength Nadine. He also wrote some of my favorite episodes from the second season, what he called “James Hurley’s Noir adventure.”
In 1990, Harley received an Emmy Award nomination for his script to episode 1.003, the one with Laura Palmer’s funeral. Aside from Frost and Lynch, he was the only other writer on the show to receive a nomination for writing.
Below is a list of the episodes where Peyton served as either a writer or producer. Like many references on this blog, I refer to the production codes (not those damn episode titles). In this case “1” means first season and “.00X” means the episode number. The pilot would be 1.000 and the first episode with Dewayne Dunham directing is 1.001.
Harley Peyton’s Production Credits on Twin Peaks
- Episode 1.003 – Writer
- Episode 1.006 – Writer
- Episode 2.001 – Producer
- Episode 2.002 – Producer and Writer
- Episode 2.003 – Producer
- Episode 2.004 – Producer and Writer (with Jerry Stahl, Mark Frost and Robert Engels)
- Episode 2.005 – Producer
- Episode 2.006 – Producer and Writer (with Robert Engels)
- Episode 2.007 – Producer
- Episode 2.008 – Producer
- Episode 2.009 – Producer and Writer (with Mark Frost and Robert Engels)
- Episode 2.010 – Producer
- Episode 2.011 – Producer
- Episode 2.012 – Producer and Writer (with Robert Engels)
- Episode 2.013 – Producer and Writer
- Episode 2.014 – Producer
- Episode 2.015 – Producer and Writer (with Robert Engels)
- Episode 2.016 – Producer
- Episode 2.017 – Producer
- Episode 2.018 – Producer and Writer (with Robert Engels)
- Episode 2.019 – Producer and Writer (with Mark Frost)
- Episode 2.020 – Producer and Writer (with Robert Engels)
- Episode 2.021 – Producer
- Episode 2.022 – Producer and Writer (with Mark Frost and Robert Engels)
As someone who truly appreciates the talented crew that created Twin Peaks, it was a joy hearing him speak about his work. This wasn’t his first time to visit the Real Twin Peaks event in Snoqualmie Valley. He briefly stopped by the 2025 event where he secretly attended the Ultimate Trivia Contest and part of the Cinema Unwrapped conversation at the North Bend Theatre.
Scott began the conversation by asking what life was like for Harley during the summer of 1990. This was the in-between time from the season one finale which aired on May 23 and the season two premiere on September 30. Excitement for Twin Peaks was never higher than that summer. The first season was a runaway hit and speculation about what would happen in second season filled the air.
Harley said the summer was more about “preparation” for the crew but for the actors it was “probably far more insane” due to the bright spotlight now focused on the show. Mark Frost challenged the writers, such as Peyton and Robert “Bob” Engels, to bring in storylines for the sophomore season.
STEVEN SPIELBERG ALMOST DIRECTED AN EPISODE OF TWIN PEAKS
As Peyton described preparations for the show’s second season, he mentioned they had considered having Steven Spielberg direct episode 2.001, the second season opener. He said Steven wanted to “make it was weird as possible.” The episode would be directed by David Lynch after Lynch expressed as desire to do it. They thought Steven might direct episode 2.007 which Harley said is the one where Leland Palmer dies (which is the Tim Hunter-directed episode 2.009)
Peyton and Frost first shared this story about Spielberg directing with Brad Dukes in his book, “Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks.” There are a few more details that Peyton omitted during his Real Twin Peaks conversation (such as his first wife was Tricia Brock who would write episodes 2.010 and 2.016).
Harley Peyton: After the first season a lot of crazy things happened, like me and Mark sitting at Steven Spielberg’s house convincing him to do the
opener for the second season. That was all ready to go. This is a long story, but my first wife [Tricia Brock] is and was Kate Capshaw’s best friend, so I knew Steven pretty well and he was a huge fan of the show – watched it every week, I mean a huge fan. Because we were friendly we talked about it a lot and he said to me in passing how fun it would be to direct an episode, so I went to Mark over the summer and said, “This probably is not a bad way to kick off the second season, right?”
Mark Frost: They invited me over to their house and we had dinner in the kitchen. Afterwards we sat down and showed Steven and Kate a rough cut of episode 7 (the one I had directed) and we talked quite a number of times over the next few months about him maybe coming on and doing the opening episode of the second season.
Harley Peyton: Steven just said, “I want it to be as weird as possible; it’ll be so much fun.” So whether or not he would have even done it, we’ll never really know, but when Mark told David he didn’t even hesitate, saying, “No, no, I think I’ll direct the first one. Maybe he can direct later in the season,” which he obviously didn’t.
Mark Frost: When we actually sat down and wrote it David said, “I really want to do this,” and I said, “Absolutely, that’s your right and privilege.” Steven went off to make a movie and we weren’t able to find another time.
MARK FROST CALLS HARLEY PEYTON DURING THE CONVERSATION
As Harley was telling the story about Steven Spielberg, he received a phone call. Surprisingly, he answered during the chat and was greeted with a familiar voice – it his long time friend Mark Frost.
The crowd erupted in cheers, applause and laughter when Harley held up his mobile phone to reveal Mark Frost’s photo.
“What influence did our rotisserie baseball league experience have on your time with the Twin Peaks community,” Mark asked Harley as he held the microphone next to the mobile phone. The call was beginning to feel pre-planned which made the surprise no less amazing.
Harley explained that Mark and he met via an early form of fantasy baseball where owners manage a roster of real Major League Baseball players, accumulating stats to rank in specific categories. Both were drawn to the Minnesota Twins and soon formed a friendship. Frost would eventually invite Peyton to a screening of the Twin Peaks pilot (most likely in March 1990 at the Director’s Guild). Afterward, Peyton expressed interest in writing for the show and would produce his Emmy Award-nominated script to the show’s third broadcast episode, 1.003.
More cheers peppered the theatre as Mark ended the call.
“Give all my love to everybody there,” Mark continued. “Thanks to everyone for you know what and keep it going kids.”
HARLEY PEYTON’S ICONIC CHARACTERS AND DIALOGUE
Harley discussed the creation of iconic characters found in Twin Peaks such as Nadine Hurley when she has superhuman strength or Harold Smith, who was loosely based on Arthur Crew Inman (May 11, 1895 – December 5, 1963). He was a reclusive and unsuccessful American poet whose 17-million-word diary, extending from 1919 to 1963, is one of the longest English-language diaries on record.
Peyton was quick to point out that Inman was a terrible racist, something “Time” magazine echoed when the two-volume Inman Diaries were published in 1985. They described Inman as a “megalomaniacal bigot misogynist Peeping Tom hypochondriac.”
Unlike the real Inman, Peyton felt the late actor Lenny Von Dohlen did an outstanding portraying to recluse Smith who enjoyed capturing the stories of others in his journals.
Harley enjoyed writing dialogue for Special Agent Albert Rosenfield as he identified with the late Miguel Ferrer’s snarky character.
“I was sort of a snarky asshole anyway,” he explained to laughter from the crowd. “Writing his insults, like ‘resume whittling’ and all that stuff, it did sort of come naturally. Mark [Frost] was a great manager of talent and he would see that we could do and were good at. So he would encourage me to write for Albert and I loved writing for him.”
One of the most often quoted dialogue from Twin Peaks came from Peyton’s mind. In Twin Peaks episode 1.006, Special Agent Dale Cooper encourages Sheriff Harry Truman to “give yourself a present every day.”
OTHER MEMORIES FROM HARLEY PEYTON ABOUT TWIN PEAKS
Harley recalled the time Diane Keaton directed episode 2.015 as it was a big deal and everyone was on set that day.
“Diane was so smart, so funny and it was pleasure to work with her,” recalled Peyton. “She wanted to do direct and take big swings.”
Scott asked Harley how Twin Peaks changed his life.
“I mean here I am,” said Peyton. “It changed it forever. So there’s no question about that. I’ve been very, very lucky in my career. And just being an acquaintance of Mark [Frost] and getting invited to that [Twin Peaks pilot] screening, that’s about luck. I just felt it was one of those in your life that have such great impact, happened for almost ridiculous reasons, and yet you do learn.
“For me, it was a great writing experience, it was the first television show I worked on. So it was really about learning to find the voice of a character that had already been written. It was learning about finding ways to put myself into other characters and maybe create them. It was learning about the politics of a set and the politics of a production. And that was about navigating Mark and David [Lynch] and everyone who was there. I can’t think of a better educational experience. I mean the kind of thing that can’t happen now. It would almost impossible for that kind of thing to happen now … There’s no question that it changed my life forever and it gave me one of my very best friends to this day and that’s very important to me too.”
John asked Harley what television shows he’s enjoying.
“One show I like a lot because it relates to how I feel about ‘Twin Peaks’ in a way is ‘Andor,'” said Peyton. “Because ‘Andor’ was a television show that went into an existing universe and found new angles, new approaches and new characters. I firmly believe there is a ‘Twin Peaks’ universe that’s sitting there that maybe someday we’ll be able to return to. So this is not an announcement [laughs] … I love ‘Andor’ because it’s related to something I’m interested in.”
QUESTIONS FROM REAL TWIN PEAKS ATTENDEES
With about 15 minutes left in the conversation, Real Twin Peaks attendees were invited to ask Harley questions. They lined up down the theater aisle where Scott met them with a microphone. One guest asked if there was a show bible to which Harley said there was not. Some of the through lines in the show came from Mark as every script would pass through him before filming would begin.
Brian Liddicoat is a 30-year trial lawyer from California who said lawyers go from “good to great” by being able to tell good stories that resonate with people. He asked Harley for suggestions about books to read about crafting great stories.
“I never ready a single ‘How To’ screenwriting book,” answered Harley, “I remember Robert McKee who wrote a book that everyone was talking about. And I thought, ‘Oh, this is bullshit. What am I going to learn this?’ And actually, [the book] is really fascinating. I would highly recommend that book [which is “Story: Substance Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting.”
For Harley, reading lots of stories was the fuel that drove his creative writing engine – “The more novels you read, the more shows you watch, that all goes in you and that’s how you get it to come back out.”
AFTER THE CONVERSATION WITH HARLEY PEYTON
After the conversation concluded, Scott, Harley and John posed for a group photo with all attendees in the theatre.
I was also quick to grab a shot of the three of them – all writers and authors that I adore!
Harley then spent a few moments meeting with fans and posing for photos.
Scott Ryan also signed a few books including his newest filled with lots of interviews, “Twin Peaks: Through the Red Curtain.” He couldn’t stay long as he had to get over to the Twede’s Cafe for his busboy shift.
One of the most precious moments I happened to capture on film was Ashley Miles who runs Damn Fine Pottery presenting Harley with a mug she created.
The mug included Peyton’s famous dialogue for Special Agent Dale Cooper – “Everyday / Once a Day / Give Yourself / A Present”
You can see his reaction to seeing his words on the side of the handcrafted mug.
An appreciative hug ensued after the presentation. This is why I adore the Twin Peaks fan community – some of the nicest, kindest and creative folks you’ll meet.
It’s a rare moment that I’m in front of the camera at these events. I’m grateful for this photo with Harley as his words have been a part of my life for more than three decades. Thank you Harley for being at the Real Twin Peaks event this year!
You can find more high-resolution photos from this event and many other activities on my Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/albums/72177720332251282
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