An older FBI agent faces a dark-haired young woman in a black dress in a red-curtained room with a black-and-white zigzag floor, a small man in a red suit dancing behind them.

Original artwork, not a still

Laura Palmer

I'll see you again in 25 years.

— Twin Peaks • 1990

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

A dead girl's farewell turned into a cliffhanger and then a countdown. Fans spent a quarter of a century holding the show to its word, and when the show returned in 2017 the line became the series' most famous promise kept. It now works as a wry way to say "until next time" to anything that is going to be a very long wait.

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In context

Spoilers for Twin PeaksShow the scene

The second-season finale of Twin Peaks, "Beyond Life and Death" (ABC, 10 June 1991, directed by David Lynch), ends with Agent Cooper trapped in the Black Lodge, the red-curtained waiting room of his dreams. The Man from Another Place tells him that when they meet again it will not be him. Then Laura Palmer, the murdered girl whose death started the series, appears and tells Cooper she will see him again in 25 years, adding "meanwhile" with a strange two-handed gesture. The promise was kept by Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017.

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