Four months before she faced a sinister killer in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Vera Miles faced a sinister version of herself in The Twilight Zone season one episode “Mirror Image.”
Written by series creator and host Rod Serling, the episode takes place at a lonely bus station where a young woman named Millicent Barnes (Miles) begins to see her doppelgänger, whom she believes is from another universe and now wants to replace her.
The idea of parallel realities was still quite novel in 1960—at least from a scientific perspective—considering physicist Hugh Everett III proposed the concept of a multiverse just three years prior.
It’s unclear if Serling was inspired by the latest in quantum mechanics (more likely he was drawing on established sci-fi tropes), but we do know where he got the notion of a person meeting another version of themselves.
How Rod Serling’s Airport Double Inspired Twilight Zone “Mirror Image” Episode
“I got this idea during a publicity tour,” Serling told TV Guide, according to Martin Grams Jr.’s The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. “I was sitting in a Cleveland, Ohio airport when I noticed a person walking past me, carrying a bag very similar to my own. I looked up and saw the person from the back.”
“The build, the back of the head, etc. were identical to my own,” he continued. “And while I never did see who the unlucky guy was, it provided a springboard to an idea whereby a woman keeps seeing evidence of a twin to herself and ultimately seeing herself.”
He gave a slightly different version of events to The Louisville Courier-Journal in July 1960, recalling that the incident took place at baggage claim.
“The build, the back of the head, etc. were identical to my own,” the dad of two continued. “And while I never did see who the unlucky guy was, it provided a springboard to an idea whereby a woman keeps seeing evidence of a twin to herself and ultimately seeing herself.”
In writing the script, Serling changed the location from airport to bus station, which was probably cheaper to build as a set. Narratively speaking, this particular backdrop feels more claustrophobic when compared to a spacious airport terminal packed with other people, as though Millicent has nowhere to run from the double looking to take her life.
Decades later, the episode became a major source of inspiration for Jordan Peele’s 2019 horror film, Us.
Classic episodes of The Twilight Zone air regularly on SYFY. Click here for complete scheduling info!
