I'm just wondering why it seems like there has never been any interest in his story, and what became of him. This seems to be true of both the fan base and Lynch/Frost. Phillip Jeffries had only a few seconds of screen time in FWWM, but there has always seemed to be a huge interest in his story. When David Bowie died, there were all sorts of questions about how Lynch would handle it. Chet had a fair amount of screen time and nobody seems the slightest bit concerned about his character. So far he has not even been mentioned in season 3, unless I've missed it.
If he was confined to the Black Lodge and the rules were the same for him as for Cooper, he should have had a chance to leave about a year before Coop.
It seems like there is a general feeling that none of this ever will be or needs to be addressed, but I'm not sure that I really understand why that is.
Over the years I've grown to really enjoy Chet Desmond, but as far as his continued story goes...
And here's where the rumours and theories pop up, but basically, when FWWM was being filmed, MacLachlan was not that interested in doing the movie. His reasons are his own, so Chet Desmond stepped in to take over the re-telling of Cooper's investigation.
Desmond is a Cooper substitute (with the usual Lynch and Robert Engels character development). One of the theories I've ran across regarding Desmond and the opening of FWWM is essentially Cooper's dream of the true events.
The canonical Missing Pieces though debunk that rumor because Cooper meets with Sam, and they talk about Desmond's demeanor.
There is a notation in the Secret History where Agent Preston finds a short list of names from "an erased document...recovered from a secure server in the FBI's Philadelphia office." It lists:
Gordon Cole
Phillips Jeffries
Chet Desmond
Sam Stanley
Windom Earle
Dale Cooper
Albert Rosenfield
She mentions that she can't determine whose computer it was on and there was nothing else on the page. She also notes that besides Albert and Gordon something terrible has happened to everyone on the list (apparently Sam suffered some kind of breakdown after Chet disappeared and was put on administrative leave.) So there has to be an important link between the names.
I for one am excited to see Chet come up again, I think it's going to happen. Phillip Jeffries is an important character in this new season (even if we haven't seen him yet) and I think with all the other FWWM material surfacing, especially the jade ring, there's no way they don't at least talk about him.
If Chris Isaak shot anything for TPR, it's the best-kept secret in Hollywood. That said, I'd love to see Desmond appear unexpectedly!
A fair guess is when he took the ring, perhaps tried it on, and was killed. The taunt left for Cooper on Desmond's car: " Let's Rock "
Agent Stanley changed his name & went on to non-Blue Rose cases ( "24" ).
Fire walk with