David Lynch’s Producer Calls His Unreleased Series UNRECORDED NIGHT the “Best Thing He Ever Did”

For years, David Lynch was quietly developing something new, something big. A mysterious project titled Unrecorded Night, written in secret with his longtime producing partner Sabrina Sutherland. Now, that project may go unseen, but according to Sutherland, it was the pinnacle of Lynch’s creative output.

Sutherland said in a recent interview with A Rabbit’s Foot:

“I’ll say this: It was probably the best thing he ever did. It was a culmination of a lot of things. We worked on this for over two years in terms of writing, and we were still writing up until the point he passed away.”

Originally pitched to Netflix as a limited series, Unrecorded Night had gone through revisions and rewrites even after the initial pitch.

“We were getting ready to go back to Netflix because he had re-envisioned some things about it, and it had morphed into something even better than it was. I hope that one day people will be able to experience it in some way.”

David Lynch passed away last year from cardiac arrest following complications from emphysema. According to Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Unrecorded Night was greenlit almost instantly.

“He came into Netflix to pitch a limited series, which we jumped at. 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 led to this project never being produced—but we made it clear that as soon as he was able, we were all in.”

Now, with Lynch gone, the question becomes, will the world ever see it? His daughter, filmmaker Jennifer Lynch, told The Times that while no one in the family plans to film Unrecorded Night without him, they are considering releasing the script itself.

“None of us ever tried to make his series in his place. We are considering offering that as a published piece, so that people can sit with his ideas. It would be very sad if people didn’t get to see it.”

Though it never made it to camera, Jennifer hinted at who Lynch had in mind for the project.

“I was sworn to secrecy but yes, I’m sure Kyle [MacLachlan] would have been part of it. And Laura [Dern], and Naomi [Watts]. He loved to play with his friends.”

No one outside Lynch’s inner circle really knows what this project is or what the story involves, but it sounds like it would’ve been the ultimate David Lynch project.