Why Michael Ontkean's Sheriff Harry S. Truman Left Twin Peaks

Harry Truman (Michael Ontkean) was never the flashiest character on the first two seasons of "Twin Peaks," but that doesn't mean he wasn't beloved. He was an honorable partner to Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), a stable leader for the Twin Peaks police department, and a supposedly voracious lover to that complicated dame Josie Packard (Joan Chen). But just as Josie was sadly absent from "Twin Peaks: The Return" (her character is cursed to be a doorknob forever, I suppose), poor Harry never returns

either. Instead, his role in the series is taken up by Frank Truman (Robert Forster), Harry's brother.

In the show itself, the explanation for this sudden switch-up is that Harry is of ailing health. He was diagnosed with cancer about a year before the season begins, as both Frank and Hawk (Michael Horse) allude to throughout "The Return." We never see Harry on screen, but the show's other characters frequently talk about how they're rooting for him and how they miss his presence.

Behind the scenes, the reason for Harry's absence was simple: Ontkean had retired from acting by the time "The Return" came together. "Michael is fully retired from show business, and has been for many years," said a source close to the actor, as Nerdist (via Bustle) reported in 2017.

While it was a bummer for fans to not have Ontkean back, at least the reason for his absence wasn't as dark as the reason for the depiction of another Twin Peaks resident in "The Return." Much like Harry, the Log Lady (Catherine Coulson) was also suffering from a terminal illness throughout "The Return," but this was a case of the real world blending into the show. The actor herself was suffering from the same illness, and she actually passed away shortly after filming her character's final scene before her in-show death. Given the similarities between the Log Lady's fate and the health situation going on with Harry, many fans have feared that Ontkean was himself going through the same struggle as his character. Thankfully, he seems to be doing just fine and really has retired, nothing more or less.

Read more: The 15 Best Western TV Shows Ever, Ranked

Harry's Absence Led To A Full-Circle Moment For Robert Forster In Twin Peaks: The Return

Easing the blow of Harry's absence is the presence of Frank, who turned out to be a great fit for the new role. He behaves a lot like how we'd always imagined an older Harry would, maintaining an admirable level of patience with the many colorful characters that populate Twin Peaks. Some fans remarked on how lucky it was that the show found an actor so similar in vibes to Ontkean, but there was a bit more than luck involved. In actuality, Forster was picked because he was the original choice to play Harry in the first place.

In a 2016 interview with Moviefone, Forster revealed, "He [David Lynch] wanted to hire me for the original, 25 years ago, for a part, and I was committed to another guy for a pilot that never went. So, I didn't do the original 'Twin Peaks,' which would have been a life-changer. It's a gigantic hit if you remember those years, a phenomenon. But I didn't do that."

Of course, it's not like Forster's career crashed and burned after passing up that opportunity. Within a few years, he had a lead role in Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown," and he would later star in the critically acclaimed drama "The Descendants" alongside George Clooney. In the late 1990s, he was actually offered another opportunity to work with Lynch, and this time he took it, starring as Detective McKnight in "Mulholland Drive." It wasn't a major role, but considering the movie is often voted one of the best films of the entire 21st century so far, I'd still consider that a win.

Although his "Twin Peaks" role came 25 years later than he would've liked (and with a mere fraction of the ratings for the show's first two seasons, sadly), Forster still seemed happy with how the whole thing shook out. "I rank ['Twin Peaks'] tied to two or three other really good things in my career [...] but tied at the top and a great project," he said on Entertainment Weekly's "A Twin Peaks Podcast," just two years before he passed away at the age of 78. "David gave me one of the great characters."

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Read the original article on SlashFilm.