Dale Cooper is the FBI agent sent to Twin Peaks to investigate Laura Palmer’s murder.
Cooper is played by Kyle MacLachlan and serves as the audience’s main guide through the town’s mysteries. He approaches the case with professional discipline, but he is also known for his interest in dreams, symbols, coffee and cherry pie.
Sheriff Harry S. Truman assists Cooper during the investigation. That partnership is sometimes confused with the FBI agent’s identity, but Truman is the local sheriff, while Cooper is the visiting federal investigator.
Cooper’s story continues beyond the original two-season series. The 1992 film explores events before the television story, and Twin Peaks: The Return follows the character decades later in a radically expanded narrative.