<\/p>\n
Twin Peaks<\/em><\/strong> was a revelation. But its origin story might just be even more surprising.<\/p>\n In 1987<\/strong>, creators David Lynch<\/a><\/strong> and Mark Frost<\/strong> were developing a project centered on the death of Marilyn Monroe<\/a><\/strong>. Adapting Anthony Summers<\/strong>\u2019 Monroe biography, Goddess<\/strong><\/em>, they titled their screenplay Venus<\/a> Descending<\/strong><\/em> and explored the idea that the Kennedy family were responsible for the screen star’s death.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfac <\/strong>SIGN UP for Parade\u2019s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/strong><\/a> \ud83c\udfac<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Mental Floss<\/strong><\/a>, studios balked at the premise, so the two switched gears, shifting their focus to a blonde homecoming queen named Laura Palmer<\/strong> and working elements of their Monroe-inspired script into a new murder mystery \u2014 one constructed around a familiar archetype: A beautiful young woman who becomes entangled with a powerful man meets a tragic end.<\/p>\n In a 2017<\/strong> interview with Vanity Fair<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, Lynch made the connection explicit. \u201cYou could say that Laura Palmer is Marilyn Monroe, and that Mulholland Drive<\/strong><\/em> is about Marilyn Monroe, too,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything is about Marilyn Monroe<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: Rare 1961 Bikini Photos of Screen Siren Surface Ahead of MoMA Retrospective<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n A year later, Lynch expanded on that fascination. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say exactly what it is about Marilyn Monroe,\u201d he told Vice<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the woman-in-trouble thing that pulls you in. It\u2019s more that some women are really mysterious.\u201d<\/p>\n Acclaim for the show is certainly no mystery. With a Rotten Tomatoes<\/strong><\/a> critics score of 78% and an audience rating of 92%, the three-season series was a hit. So much so that 25 years later<\/strong>, Lynch and Frost returned with Twin Peaks: The Return<\/strong><\/em>, which Rolling Stone<\/em><\/strong><\/a> called \u201cthe most groundbreaking TV series ever,\u201d and which also ranks among Letterboxd<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s top miniseries of all time.<\/p>\n The original Twin Peaks<\/em><\/strong>premiered 36 years ago this month<\/strong> and is now consistently ranked across best-TV lists \u2014 see: Time<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Empire<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, The Hollywood Reporter<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Rolling Stone<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. A prestige legacy it owes to the one and only Marilyn Monroe.<\/p>\n Related: \u2018Half-Baked\u2019 \u201980s Classic Sparked a Surprisingly Hit \u201990s Series That Ran for 5 Seasons<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Apr 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aol.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Twin Peaks was a revelation. But its origin story might just be even more surprising. In 1987, creators David Lynch and Mark Frost were developing a project centered on the death of Marilyn Monroe. Adapting Anthony Summers\u2019 Monroe biography, Goddess, they titled their screenplay Venus Descending and explored the idea that the Kennedy family were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2375314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[52337,462125,314148,462123,462124,462126],"class_list":["post-2375313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-david-lynch","tag-laura-palmer","tag-marilyn-monroe","tag-mark-frost","tag-mental-floss","tag-venus-descending"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/How-Marilyn-Monroe-Inspired-the-Creation-of-Twin-Peaks-and.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2375313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2375315,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375313\/revisions\/2375315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2375314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2375313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2375313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2375313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}