Here's Major Briggs' unusual role in Twin Peaks: The Return explained. TV audiences weren't ready for Twin Peaks back in 1990 when it debuted. The co-creation of David Lynch and Mark Frost, the story saw kooky FBI agent Dale Cooper arrive in the titular town to investigate the murder of teenager Laura Palmer. The series was less about investigating the murder than it was exploring the town's residents and the dark secrets Laura's death shines a light on.
Twin Peaks' unique melding of tones and cinematic quality were groundbreaking when it first aired, and it would inspire future shows like The X-Files. Sadly, the quality noticeably dipped with season 2 where viewers and the network demanded Laura's killer be revealed - which was something Lynch had never planned on doing. Lynch took a step back creatively during the second season for this reason, which resorted to silly subplots to pad out episodes. It was cancelled at the end of season 2 and Lynch's dark prequel movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was met with critical scorn upon release in 1992. The latter is now considered one of the director's most underrated works.
The odds of the show coming back once seemed impossible, but it finally happened with 2017's Twin Peaks: The Return. David Lynch would direct all eighteen episodes of this revival, which delighted and bemused fans in equal measure. The series brought back most of the original cast, though some actors either declined to return or had passed away in the years between seasons. This includes Don S. Davis, who played Major Garland Briggs on the show; he's also well known for his role in Stargate: SG-1. In the original series, Briggs was the father of local bad boy Bobby and was a U.S. air force officer involved with a top-secret military/FBI task force dubbed "Blue Rose."
A blue rose doesn't occur naturally, with the name being a reference to investigations into unexplainable phenomena. Other members of this task force include FBI agents Gordon Cole (David Lynch), Cooper, Albert Rosenfield and Philip Jeffries. During the events of Twin Peaks, Briggs was assigned to an air force facility monitoring paranormal cases in the town and looking for the mythical White Lodge. In the years that followed the season 2 cliffhanger, Copper was replaced by evil doppelganger Mr. C while Briggs disappeared and was presumed dead.
Twin Peaks: The Return finds the Major's headless corpse being discovered in present-day, alongside a murdered librarian named Ruth Davenport. Ruth was having an affair with a school principal named William Hastings, and the two investigated alternate dimensions together. They managed to enter another reality and encountered Briggs, who had resided there since his disappearance. Hastings later brought Briggs some coordinates he requested, only to see the Major's head float from his body and disappear while Hastings and Davenport were attacked by mysterious figures. Briggs' floating head later encounters Cooper in the "non-existent" purple sea and he says the words "Blue Rose."
It isn't quite clear who killed Major Briggs or Ruth Davenport in Twin Peaks: The Return, though Mr. C was undoubtedly involved. Like many things about the series, a clear explanation isn't totally forthcoming about what exactly happened to the Major, though it was nice to see the character paid off.