David Lynch Was Working on a Netflix Show, Ted Sarandos Says

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos is mourning “unapologetic genius” David Lynch, who he says was working on a limited series that Netflix was “all in on.” Like many others across the entertainment industry, Sarandos paid tribute to the late filmmaker on social media after his death at 78. In a January 17 Instagram post, Sarandos praised Lynch’s body of work and added that he “will always wonder about what he had in mind for us with what would have been his last project.” Sarandos said Lynch once welcomed him into his house to discuss stocking copies of Eraserhead, noting that their paths would cross again “years later” regarding a potential collaboration. “[H]e came into Netflix to pitch a limited series which we jumped at,” Sarandos recalled. “It was a David Lynch production, so filled with mystery and risks but we wanted to go on this creative ride with this genius. First Covid, then some health uncertainties lead to this project never being produced but we made it clear that as soon as he was able, we were all in.”

This isn’t the first we’re hearing of a potential Lynch series for Netflix. According to Variety, one of Lynch’s unfinished projects was a show called Unrecorded Night, which Netflix had given the code name Wisteria. Lynch reportedly planned to write and direct 13 episodes with an $85 million budget, and cinematographer Peter Deming (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive) was said to be on board for the production. While Sarandos did not name the show he was talking about in his tribute post, his account of a never-made project that was impacted by COVID-19 seems to align with a description given by producer and longtime Lynch collaborator Sabrina Sutherland in a Q&A last year. “Unrecorded Night was a non-Twin Peaks series that was going to shoot at Netflix but was cancelled when the pandemic hit,” she said at the time. “There’s always a chance we can pick it up again, but David has been enjoying his artwork and music endeavors, so we haven’t gone back to it yet.”