Here's the evolution of The Arm in Twin Peaks: The Return explained. Twin Peaks was co-created by David Lynch and Mark Frost and the first season was a landmark in television. The premise had FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) traveling to the titular town to investigate the murder of teenager Laura Palmer, which devastates the community. The more Dale digs into the murder he uncovers dark secrets about Twin Peaks and its inhabitants - including the spirits that haunt it.
Twin Peaks was a mix of horror, comedy, melodrama and pretty much every other genre. The first season presented viewers with a unique, cinematic series unlike anything previously attempted on TV. Sadly, the quality would dip in season 2 following the reveal of Laura's killer, with the show feeling somewhat aimless at times. A swift decline in ratings saw it cancelled at the end of season 2, which finished on a major cliffhanger that saw Cooper trapped in the otherworldly Black Lodge. David Lynch would soon return with 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me which recounted Laura's final week. While the film is well-regarded now its dark tone and disconnect from the show led to a critical panning and it underperformed financially.
The original series is an acknowledged influence on shows like Lost and Hannibal, and after vowing he would never go back, David Lynch would end up directing all eighteen episodes of 2017's acclaimed Twin Peaks: The Return. The show opens with Cooper still trapped in the Lodge 25 years later while his evil doppelganger Mr. C runs around in the real world. One of the most memorable moments of the original show saw Cooper dreaming of a red room, where he meets The Arm, AKA The Man from Another Place.
Twin Peaks' The Arm appears is a spirit who appears as a dwarf dressed in a red suit. He talks in reverse speech and drops cryptic clues about Laura's murder, and also performs a dance. Despite being such a famous character, The Arm only appeared in a handful of episodes and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. While not made explicit on the show, The Arm is supposed to be the embodiment of the severed arm of MIKE, a fellow spirit who was once the partner of BOB, Twin Peaks' ultimate villain. MIKE cut off his arm after seeing the error of his ways and to purge himself of BOB and throughout the series does his best to stop his old partner.
Twin Peaks: The Return revealed that over the 25 years Cooper was trapped in the Black Lodge, the arm evolved into some kind of talking tree. The tree's head is a mass of strange flesh and electricity flows through it. MIKE himself introduces it as "The evolution of the arm," which tells Cooper his doppelganger needs to come back and orders him to leave; he soon runs across this tree's evil doppelganger as he tries to flee. Why exactly The Arm transformed into a tree isn't made clear on the show, but since Michael J. Anderson didn't reprise the role, David Lynch needed to come up with another form for the character. The director did something similar for BOB too, who appeared in the revival in the form of an orb, as BOB's portrayer Frank Silva had since passed away,