David Lynch's scripts for Unrecorded Night, intended to feature Toby Jones, will be published.

      It has now been more than a year since the legendary David Lynch left us, and he left behind several unfulfilled projects. The most significant one was "Unrecorded Night," a series intended for Netflix, which was canceled due to the pandemic. While specific plot information is limited, it was to feature an ensemble cast including Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern, and Naomi Watts, marking Lynch's return to Los Angeles.

      Recently, Jennifer Lynch, David Lynch's daughter, shared on Reddit that "Unrecorded Night" will likely be published in script form. She stated, “Scripts for Unrecorded Night will probably be made available by my siblings and me to share what could not come to fruition, for those who would have appreciated it. I urge everyone to wait for this release instead of seeking out unauthorized versions, which would tarnish the beautiful work our dad created. Like millions of others, we are huge fans of our father's art and want to see it shared and celebrated in every positive manner. We understand there is a desire for this, and we feel the responsibility to present Dad’s gifts as best we can.”

      It has also come to light that Toby Jones was slated to lead the project, as confirmed by Lynch's long-time collaborator Sabrina Sutherland in an interview with Boston Hassle, and reiterated last week at a BFI Q&A. Although Toby Jones had not previously collaborated with Lynch, his father, Freddie Jones, who passed away in 2019, had roles in "The Elephant Man," "Dune," and "Wild at Heart," as well as in Lynch’s TV projects "On the Air" and "Hotel Room."

      Sutherland remarked to Cinema Femme in 2025, “No one else could direct it, but I truly believe that even in its written form, 'Unrecorded Night' is exceptional. It’s a fantastic story, and I consider it the best thing he’s ever done. He and I developed it over several years, sifting through all of his old writings and organizing what he had. There’s a vast amount of David’s writing and scripts that haven’t been published. For 'Unrecorded Night,' he took existing material and merged it with new ideas. We began preproduction but were halted, yet during COVID, we kept working on the script even after he launched his YouTube channel. David wanted to revise a significant portion of the script, shifting it from what it was during preproduction to what we ultimately finished with before his passing.”

      Another longtime collaborator of Lynch, cinematographer Peter Deming, mentioned last year, “It’s definitely an original piece; I’m not certain how it was structured. It was intended to be a lengthy series, as David really favored what he referred to as ‘the continuing story.’ I attempted to convey my love for feature films, but he insisted, ‘I’m not making any more movies. I’m just going to tell longer stories because I love them.’ In fact, with 'Twin Peaks: The Return,' we were unsure of how many episodes there would be until we got into post-production, as it was originally written as a 550-page film. The way it was edited was more of a post-production issue. 'Unrecorded Night' was similar—it took me three sessions to read it because it was that dense. But it was certainly not 'Twin Peaks.' It was a very intriguing mystery, I would say. It’s unfortunate. [Laughs] It genuinely is because it would have been great.”

      He also added, “David loved creating films set in Los Angeles. He didn’t shy away from the location. While 'Lost Highway' wasn’t explicit, it was definitely suggested. 'Mulholland Dr.' and 'INLAND EMPIRE' were clear. For me, this was another addition to his LA canon, blending filmmaking with Old Hollywood a bit, and it felt like perhaps number four in that series of works.”