*Link to Madeleine "Maddy" Ferguson (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #32)

Visit the TWIN PEAKS Character Series directory for all entries as they are published or re-introduced.

Today's linked entry is important for several reasons, including a structural one I'll discuss last. Maddy Ferguson is arguably the most crucial character we've covered so far, rivaled only by the Log Lady, Annie, and Windom Earle (even though Maddy is at times a cipher, as discussed in the link below). She's inarguably played by the most central performer yet, albeit as a repeat of #55 (Carrie Page) who was also played by Sheryl Lee as a Laura-adjacent character, in that case probably a direct offshoot of Laura herself. Although Maddy never appears in the third season and I did not update the entry published just over six years ago, it's worth adding a few addenda here. As noted, Lee now appears on the list three times rather than twice (which was already a record). My closing contemplation, of whether Maddy would return or Lee would show up in yet another incarnation, is certainly interesting to re-read with The Return behind us. Lee's work on TV (or "TV" these days, given streaming platforms) has continued on shows like the Facebook series Limetown following the bio I wrote for Maddy (the Laura entry will focus on Lee's films). And finally, while Maddy is not mentioned in Mark Frost's novel The Final Dossier, the book's conclusion depicts a timeline (townspeople's memories, even newspaper records) morphing before Agent Tammy Preston's very eyes, in which Laura vanishes rather than dies and Leland quietly kills himself a year later. This obviously implies a world where Maddy was never murdered and is likely alive and well in Missoula (or elsewhere). Maybe this is why the Maddy we see in the Red Room disappears?

Madeleine "Maddy" Ferguson (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #32)

We are now approaching an important turning point in the character series. Today's post is the very last time I'm linking to an old piece rather than publishing something new or revised. Back in early 2017, Maddy was ranked #23, followed only by the Major and the collective Spirits entries before I paused on the cusp of the top twenty. Another three characters, initially placed lower than Maddy on the list, have risen above her thanks to additional screentime in season three. The rest of the remaining entries, twenty-six in total, consist of entirely new material; these are individuals (if you can call, for example, Cooper or Diane "individuals") who I either didn't reach during the original line-up or who didn't exist until that summer's Showtime episodes.

Aside from questions of doppelgangers/tulpas, there is only one entirely new entry that deals with a group rather than an individual, and it's the next one. You may want to cue up a playlist to accompany Friday's entry...