As the moviegoing world continues to reel over the monumental loss of — the unique visionary behind classic cult cinema outings like Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, and many more — his filmmaking techniques continue to inspire and influence movies and television. Hailed for the dream sequences that blur the line between surreality and the unconscious, even HBO's landmark mob drama The Sopranos adopted Lynchian tropes and tenets.

Often imitated but never emulated, David Lynch leaves behind a trove of cinematic treasures that continue to challenge audiences. While there is unlikely to be as singular a filmmaker as Lynch in Hollywood's future, the legacy he leaves behind with Twin Peaks, The Elephant Man, Lost Highway, Wild at Heart, and others will neither be eclipsed nor tarnished by time. With the heaviest of hearts and reverential honor, here's how the late great David Lynch influenced The Sopranos.

Born in Missoula, Montana, on January 20, 1946, . After studying painting in his youth, Lynch began making short films in the late 1960s, honing his craft with such notable titles as The Alphabet, The Grandmother, and The Amputee. In 1977, Lynch made his feature debut with the independent cult surrealist film Eraserhead, which he made piecemeal over several years.

, proving Lynch's lasting vision as a singular filmmaking visionary who challenged traditional cinematic narrative and storytelling. The stark surrealism seen in Eraserhead continued throughout most of Lynch's work, with a few outstanding exceptions, like The Elephant Man (1980) and The Straight Story (1999), two universally praised movies proving Lynch's talents were not a novelty or gimmick.

Lost in Lynch's striking visual approach to cinema and the surrealism that blurs dreams from reality, is what a skilled writer he was from the beginning of his career. . The only real mainstream movie Lynch attempted was the 1984 adaptation of Dune, which was such a bad experience for him that he reverted to making personal independent movies that tapped into his subconscious. Frankly, the entire filmgoing world is better for it.

In addition to several short films, . Before his tragic demise at age 78 on January 15, 2025, Lynch was preparing a 13-episode TV series called Unrecorded Night. Until more details about that project come, it's worth exploring how Lynch inspired another TV series; HBO's watershed mob drama The Sopranos. But before that, a closer look at his technical craft and surrealist themes is in order.

. While The Elephant Man features an elaborate dream by John Merrick (John Hurt), the abstract dream logic running throughout the entirety of Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, and Inland Empire elevates the technique to new narrative heights.

Discussing the importance of dreams in his films in the book Lynch on Lynch, the director stated:

", the ones that come when I'm quietly sitting in a chair, letting my mind wander. When you sleep, you don't control your dream. I like to dive into a dream world that I've made or discovered; a world I choose ... [You can't really get others to experience it, but] right there is the power of cinema."

A long-time proponent of transcendental meditation, Lynch tapped into his dreams through daily meditation and urged others to do so until his untimely death. Of course, Lynch fans know that . Between subverting small-town values in Blue Velvet and impugning American industrialization in Eraserhead, Twin Peaks, and The Straight Story, Lynch's voice and vision began to shape. The latter was released in 1999, the same year The Sopranos premiered on HBO.

In 2015, The Sopranos' creator David Chase admitted to Vulture that . After telling the trade that he watched The Sopranos' premiere at home, Chase broached the topic of Twin Peaks unsolicited, stating:

"I didn’t watch a lot of network television at that time. I had had enough of franchises and police and judges and lawyers and all that. My daughter was about 8 years old, so I was doing a lot of parenting stuff at night, like playing Barbie dolls and reading or stuff like that. But I made time to watch Twin Peaks because it just looked interesting, and I was a huge admirer of Blue Velvet."

When asked to expand on Twin Peaks and its iconic characters, Chase added:

"Well, I don’t know how to explain this, but . It has always been important to me to feel the geography of a place. Oddly enough. I thought: I believe this town out in the woods, in lumber country, in Seattle. Also, the show was visually beautiful, and I don’t think a lot of TV at that time was."

In The Sopranos, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is wracked with guilt over his past sins as a New Jersey mobster, prompting him to attend therapy. . Whether seeing dead fish talk, fantasizing about a neighbor that doesn't exist, hallucinating on peyote in Las Vegas, or seeing his deceased colleague Big Pussy (Vincent Pastore) appear in his waking life, Tony experiences moments that blur reality and fantasy in subtly imperceptible ways.

Further discussing how Twin Peaks influenced The Sopranos, Chase added:

"You knew that it was taking place in the current day, which was 1990, but at the same time, it also felt like the ’60s, and that to me was miraculous. And the conversations, the speed of it, could be very laconic. I liked that, while I was watching it, I could have a somewhat spiritual feeling. Lynch calls it his unconscious, not his subconscious. But I think it goes right into the subconscious, and you feel that you’ve been there. It’s a sort of Jungian thing that he manages to hit."

While happy to credit Lynch for inspiring the surreal approach to dream logic, Chase also maintains that the dreams in The Sopranos were particular to Tony and his therapeutic dilemma. Regardless, Chase and The Sopranos is just one of many examples of filmmakers and TV storytellers being inspired and influenced by David Lynch's unique and unparalleled artistry.

Twin Peaks is available to stream on Paramount+, The Sopranos on Max