Everything You Need To Know About 'Lost' For Its 20th Anniversary

“Years ago, I was watching TV, and a reality show came on NBC called Lost. It was produced by Conan O’Brien, and I thought, what a great title. A couple of years later, I was sitting on a beach in Hawaii, and thinking about the movie Cast Away, which had been on ABC the night before. Wouldn’t it be cool to do a show about people trapped on a deserted island, and then marry it with Survivor, and call it Lost? I pitched it at an ABC retreat, and we decided to develop it. The first draft comes in six months later — it’s not from [series creators] J.J. Abrams or Damon Lindelof — and I see it’s called Nowhere. I’m like: “What the hell? God forbid you use the title that the network exec wanted to use!” Ultimately, we started from scratch with J.J. and Damon. My one cannot-be-changed edict was calling this show Lost.”

- Lloyd Braun, former ABC Entertainment Group chairman

And with that, Lost was born, and its two-hour pilot premiered on ABC on September 22, 2004.

A commercial airliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles suddenly experiences a massive amount of turbulence mid-flight and is torn entirely in half before both pieces land on an unknown tropical island. The surviving passengers — which include spinal surgeon Jack (Matthew Fox); fugitive Kate (Evangeline Lilly); con-man Sawyer (Josh Holloway); former Republican Guard soldier Sayid (Naveen Andrews); married couple Jin and Sun (Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim); multi-millionaire Hurley (Jorge Garcia); stepsiblings Boone and Shannon (Ian Somerhalder, Maggie Grace); rock musician Charlie (Dominic Monaghan); pregnant mother-to-be Claire (Emilie de Ravin); single father Michael (Harold Perrineau), and his 10-year-old son, Walt (Malcolm David Kelley); and the mysterious Locke (Terry O’Quinn) — are not only left wondering if or when they will be found and rescued, but they soon also find themselves asking lots of questions about the island they’re now inhabiting, and if they’re the only ones who are there.

Lost was a breakout hit that won over both critics and viewers and gave ABC one of many successes during the 2004-2005 television season, as Desperate Housewives premiered that same month, and Grey’s Anatomy premiered in March during midseason. Not only did Lost create buzz that kept everyone talking about it, the show’s numerous mysteries were fascinating enough to keep them tuning in every week. (Why are polar bears running around on a tropical island? Why was Kate in handcuffs and being transported in the custody of a U.S. Marshal? Who is the Frenchwoman who left a recorded message asking for help, and why has that message been running for sixteen years? What is the monster that lives on the island and killed the pilot? What is the hatch, and what or who is in it? How is Locke able to walk again, even though he was paralyzed? Will anyone find them and bring them back home to civilization? Are they the only ones on the island?) It received 12 Emmy nominations after its first season, and won six of them, including Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (J.J. Abrams for his direction of the pilot), and Outstanding Drama Series. This surprised a few people in the industry, as sci-fi/fantasy shows rarely got this level of major awards attention.

However, the show’s second season was the start of some critics and viewers becoming increasingly impatient with Lost and its writers, due to more questions being asked, and seemingly none of them being answered. It also didn’t help that the show’s narrative momentum was often interrupted due to new episodes not airing every week, and breaks being inserted during its 24-episode season from September to May. ABC’s solution? For its third season, Lost would air the first six episodes in a row (a ‘mini-pod’ as ABC would call it) starting in October, go on break until February, and then return to air the rest of the season completely uninterrupted.

Lost also had another problem to deal with that began affecting its popularity: Heroes. The superhero drama had all of the action, likable characters, awesome superpowers, and mythology to be expected in a television series heavily influenced by comic books. Compared to Lost, it seemingly did a faster and better job at answering questions that the show introduced, which resulted in the show getting impressive ratings, cover stories from TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly, and numerous fans praising Heroes while also talking sh-t about Lost, and how far the show had fallen.

As Season 3 of Lost continued airing, ABC made an announcement: Lost now had an endgame in sight, and would not only end with its sixth season being its last, but the next three seasons would be 16 and 17 episodes long instead of 23 or 24 episodes long, and they would air continuously without any delays by premiering seasons in January instead of in October. The show was also revitalized by its third season, which contained some of its most impressive episodes (the biggest exception to this being the episode that featured a flashback about how Jack acquired his tattoos), all of which led to the season finale, “Through the Looking Glass.”

Not only was it one of the best episodes of the season, let alone the entire series, but it was an absolute gamechanger that caused a nationwide aftershock, due to the jaws of Lost fans everywhere hitting the floor when they realized that the flashbacks they were looking at, which featured Jack being suicidal and addicted to prescription drugs, saving the lives of people trapped in a flaming car wreck partly caused by his suicide attempt, and regretfully attending the funeral of an unknown person, were actually flashforwards. It was also revealed that both Jack and Kate somehow got off the island and went back home, and were now estranged from each other, with Kate wanting nothing to do with him.

As for Heroes? Despite its acclaim and popularity, its finale for Season 1 sputtered and ran out of gas as it arrived at the finish line, and the show’s quality and reputation declined with each passing season. (It also didn’t help that after the show ended, Tim Kring, showrunner for Heroes, and Ali Larter, who played Niki Sanders/Tracy Strauss, were both accused by cast member Leonard Roberts of exhibiting racist behavior towards him, for which they both offered apologies of incredibly piss-poor quality.)

Over the next three seasons, Lost captivated viewers with each new development. The arrival of four mysterious strangers from a boat that is clearly not Penny’s. The ruthless team of mercenaries arriving on the island from that very same boat. Ben Linus declaring war on Charles Widmore in retaliation for Alex’s death. Michael returning to the island. The island moving itself to an entirely different location and time period. The identities of the Oceanic Six. Finding out the true meaning behind “the incident” that Dr. Marvin Candle referred to in his orientation video for the Hatch. The reveal of who was in the coffin at the funeral Jack attended. Jacob and the Man In Black. The horrifying discovery that the John Locke who was brought back from the dead by the island wasn’t even John Locke at all.

Then there was the final season of Lost, and its extended finale titled “The End,” which has left both critics and viewers divided to this very day. Some of them weren’t very happy with the season being focused on the main cast living different lives in an alternate universe instead of wrapping everything up in the main universe. Others found it a satisfying trip that led to a beautiful, heartwarming destination that showed nearly the entire cast reunited once more in Purgatory, and refusing to move on until they could all do so together. However, it left some fans and critics even more confused as they watched the finale and were convinced that what they were seeing was that everyone had been dead the entire time, since the very first episode, and that every single thing we had seen onscreen was a fantasy that all of the characters somehow made up while they were together in Purgatory.

It focused on Jack going up against Locke/Man In Black to protect the island, and passing along his duties as protector of the island to Hurley, who recruited Ben to be his partner; Desmond reuniting with Bernard and Rose, who have continued living on the island with Vincent and refusing to go back to civilization, and agreeing to join the Man in Black to keep him from harming them; Jack and Kate admitting their love for each other before they say their final goodbyes; and Jack coming to the realization that he had died, and that all of the flash-forwards we had seen for him, and for every other character, was in an alternate reality created by his friends that would allow them all to move on to the afterlife together.

Oh, and we can’t forget the actual epilogue of Lost titled “The New Man In Charge.” It was released on the Season 6 DVD set (remember when television shows would be released on DVD between seasons, which made it possible for fans and new viewers to not only rewatch it as much as they’d like, but also made it possible for fans and new viewers to catch up before the start of the new season? Good times.), and focused on two DHARMA Initiative employees responsible for the pallets of supplies being shipped to the island, and on Hurley and Ben absolving them of their duties before retrieving Walt from the mental institution he’s been staying in, so they can bring him back to the island.

Lost inspired the kind of devotion and painstaking analysis from critics and audiences that very few shows achieve, and that other shows would love to have. Much of that was due to the writing, the direction, the music by composer Michael Giacchino, and the cast, all of which contributed to some of the show’s best and most memorable moments. The opening scene of the pilot. Jack and Kate’s first conversation, including the “Count to Five” anecdote.” Kate, Sayid, Sawyer, Charlie, and Shannon hearing Rousseau’s message for the first time, which leads to Charlie asking, “Guys…where are we?” Locke being shown in his wheelchair, refusing to be told what he can’t do. Sawyer telling Jack about how he crossed paths with Christian, who told him all the things he wish he could’ve told his son. “Only the thing is…we’re going to have to take the boy.” Desmond performing his morning routine to Cass Elliot’s “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” and then the revelation that the home he resides in is none other than the Hatch. The orientation video for the Hatch presented by Dr. Marvin Candle, which led to Locke saying what nearly every viewer at home said as soon as the video ended: “We’re going to have to watch that again.”

The mysterious arrival of “Henry Gale,” a.k.a. Benjamin Linus. Michael killing Ana-Lucia and Libby to release Ben. The polar bear. The blast door map. The four-toed statue. The Smoke Monster, and Mr. Eko standing face to face against it. Sawyer’s nicknames for every single person he crossed paths with. Juliet and her Book Club meeting with the Others interrupted by the arrival of Oceanic Flight 815. Jack finding out from Ben that the Boston Red Sox actually won the World Series. How Locke ended up paralyzed in the first place. Bernard and Rose deciding that they will never leave the island. Sawyer finally meeting the person responsible for destroying his childhood and his life. “Not Penny’s Boat.” Sawyer and Juliet falling in love, and then being torn apart because of “the incident.” Jack reuniting with Christian, and finally accepting his fate, and choosing to move on with the rest of his friends, who have been waiting for him.

This Lost commercial from the U.K., set to “Numb” by Portishead:

And of course, this scene between Desmond and Penny:

A sign of how successful Lost was could be seen by the number of imitators that followed in its wake: Surface, Threshold, FlashForward (which was based on a novel of the same name by Robert J. Sawyer, and was published in 1999), The Nine, Alcatraz, The Event, Six Degrees, Invasion, Persons Unknown, Revolution, Fringe, V, Sleepy Hollow, Once Upon a Time (which has been accused of being a rip-off of the comic book series Fables, but that’s another article for another time), Under the Dome, The Good Place, and two of Dustin’s favorite shows, no matter how much he tried to claim otherwise: Manifest and La Brea. Most of these shows were short-lived, and failed to capture an audience. Others stayed on a little while longer, only to decrease in quality, and do so in ways that made some fans wish they were short-lived. A few of the showrunners for these shows even boasted about how they had multi-year storylines planned out with satisfying resolutions that would avoid making the same mistakes as Lost. Which ended up being all for naught, as the plans for these shows unfortunately never came to fruition.

Even though I’d like to give individual shout-outs, the cast of characters on Lost was quite huge, so I’ll just list the names here: Matthew Fox (Jack), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Terry O’Quinn (Locke), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Harold Perrineau Jr. (Michael), Malcolm David Kelley (Walt, and yes, I already know that you’re hearing his name being shouted by Michael right now as you read this), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Maggie Grace (Shannon), Ian Somerhalder (Boone, or as Shannon called him, “God’s friggin’ gift to humanity”), Michelle Rodriguez (Ana-Lucia), Cynthia Watros (Libby), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Jeremy Davies (Daniel Faraday), Rebecca Mader (Charlotte), Ken Leung (Miles), Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus), Sam Anderson (Bernard), L. Scott Caldwell (Rose), Néstor Carbonell (Richard Alpert, whose natural eyeliner was often the topic of discussion amongst Lost fans), and last but not least, Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus, a.k.a. the brilliant chaos demon who always made certain he was two steps ahead of everyone else, only to end up having the rug pulled out from underneath him when he least expected it).

(Actually, let me not forget to add Rodrigo Santoro and Kiele Sanchez as Paolo and Nikki, who weren’t given the best or strongest material to work with on Lost, which resulted in both characters being incredibly disliked by most of the Lost fanbase, and then dying on the way back to their home planet buried alive after being bitten by poisonous spiders who only appeared once on the series, and were never seen or mentioned ever again.)

As for recurring roles and guest stars who are also deserving of recognition: M.C. Gainey (Tom/Mr. Friendly), Katey Sagal (Helen), Julie Bowen (Sarah), Kevin Tighe (Anthony Cooper), François Chau (Dr. Pierre Chang, a.k.a. Marvin Candle, Mark Wickmund, and Edgar Halliwax), Clancy Brown (Kelvin Inman), Mira Furlan (Danielle Rousseau), William Mapother (Ethan), Sonya Walger (Penelope “Penny” Widmore), Fionnula Flanagan (Eloise Hawking), John Terry (Christian Shephard), Andrew Divoff (Mikhail Bakhunin), Tania Raymonde (Alex), Lana Parrilla (Greta), Marsha Thomason (Naomi), Jon Gries (Roger Linus), Mark Pellegrino (Jacob), Titus Welliver (the Man in Black), Allison Janney (Mother, which is how her character is identified, though no one would blame you for wanting to refer to Janney as such), the late, great Lance Reddick (Matthew Abaddon), and too many other talented actors to list here.

As much as Lost deserves plenty of flowers, it also deserves to be confronted with the atrocious behavior committed by its showrunners, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and by a few of the staff writers, towards the show’s Black actors, and its non-white writers. Much of this was brought to light by journalist Maureen “Mo” Ryan in her book Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood. There was so much behind-the-scenes f-ckery that happened on the set of Lost that it got its very own chapter in Burn It Down, so here’s just one account of said f-ckery to be discussed in this article, and it involves legendary character actor (and undoubtedly, the best damn Mercutio to ever appear in a film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet) Harold Perrineau Jr.

“All I wanted to do was write some really cool episodes of a cool show. That was an impossibility on that staff,” said Monica Owusu-Breen, who worked on Lost’s third season. “There was no way to navigate that situation. Part of it was they really didn’t like their characters of color. When you have to go home and cry for an hour before you can see your kids because you have to excise all the stress you’ve been holding in, you’re not going to write anything good after that.”

As the 25-episode first season progressed, Perrineau noticed that a few of his castmates got the majority of the storytelling attention: “It became pretty clear that I was the Black guy. Daniel [Dae Kim] was the Asian guy. And then you had Jack and Kate and Sawyer,” all of whom got a good deal of screen time, as did Terry O’Quinn’s Locke. Indeed, a writer I spoke to who worked on Lost during the middle of its run said that the writing staff was told repeatedly who the “hero characters” were: Locke, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, all of whom were white. “It’s not that they didn’t write stories for Sayid [an Iraqi character] or Sun and Jin [Korean characters],” the source added. Still, they recalled comments like “Nobody cares about these other characters. Just give them a few scenes on another beach.”

To ensure that his colleague would understand that this observation was not just actor jealousy rearing its head, Perrineau pointed out the storyline disparities to a Lost producer on set in a fairly mild way. He told me he said, “I don’t have to be the first, I don’t have to have the most episodes—but I’d like to be in the mix. But it seems like this is now a story about Jack and Kate and Sawyer.” Perrineau said he was told, “Well, this is just how audiences follow stories,” and those were the characters that were “relatable.”

That assertion raised the obvious follow-up question: Why were white people relatable and his Black character, Michael, was not? Perrineau had felt a similar frustration on photo shoots where, especially in the early seasons of the show, actors of color were often asked to stand in the back row or at the edges of the frame. Conversations and experiences like these made the long days seem even longer. “You can feel the energy,” Perrineau said. “You can feel, like, ‘Oh, you’re not as important as these other people.’ “

This wasn’t the only problem that Lost dealt with behind the scenes. During production of the show’s second season, Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros, who played Ana-Lucia and Libby, and were two of the newest additions to the cast, were arrested for driving while intoxicated, and both of their characters were killed off. There was much speculation that the arrests of Rodriguez and Watros led to the demise of their characters, but Lindelof and Cuse have stated this was not the case. (However, the episode that featured Ana-Lucia and Libby being shot to death was called “Two for the Road,” and one of the details about Lost that appeared in Burn It Down was that the two actresses’ mugshots were posted on the wall of the writers’ room to poke fun at what happened to them.) If you have already read Burn It Down, and read more about what happened behind the scenes on the set of Lost? You know that what I shared here was only just the tip of the iceberg, and why many fans have had trouble looking at the show the same way again after discovering how Lindelof, Cuse, and many other writers treated their non-white colleagues.

When people continue the heated and long-running debate about television shows needing longer seasons, despite others responding that longer seasons of television result in unwanted “filler” episodes, Lost is usually brought up as an example of how longer seasons of television shows are actually a good thing, and not only provide additional worldbuilding, but also allows us to spend more time with the characters and get to know them as we watch their development. Seeing the characters play poker or golf together, trekking into the woods to look for a noisy frog that is preventing them from getting a good night’s sleep, or working together to restore an old van (and drinking beer together while doing so) may not be crucial to the show’s mythology, but they provide moments for viewers to appreciate when looking back on the show, and remembering why these characters matter to them in the first place.

In 2018, then-president of ABC, Channing Dungey, was asked by TV Line, if there was a possibility of the network creating a reboot or revival of Lost, and if she was looking to work with Cuse on a reboot or revival after news was posted that he had signed a four-year deal with ABC Studios to develop new projects for broadcast, cable and streaming, either on his own or collaborating with other writers.

“We have not had any official discussions about that,” the exec maintains. “It’s something that’s on a list of, ‘Wouldn’t that be great if… ,” but at this point it’s only at that place.’

Asked if she’s informally spoken to Cuse about resurrecting Lost in some capacity, Dungey responds, “I haven’t had that conversation with him yet.”

Whether or not ABC ever decides to go forward with a reboot or revival of Lost, it should be obvious that it will be an impossible task to once again capture the same lightning in a bottle that made Lost the worldwide phenomenon that it was when it was first premiered. Hollywood has long believed in the “If they loved it once, they’ll love it twice” philosophy when it comes to remakes, but much has changed since September of 2004. Nearly everything about television, the people who create it, and the people who watch it, have changed drastically. Network television now has to fight for attention and adoration (especially during awards season) that is being lavished on cable and streaming. Viewers have gone from wanting shorter seasons of television shows to wanting longer seasons again, even though some don’t feel that way. Cable, streaming, and social media now offer more viewing options for those who would rather watch something else, instead of what networks tell them to watch. Shows like Lost that were considered appointment television to be watched ASAP are few and far between, mainly because viewers now watch shows on their own time, thanks to streaming, resulting in spoiler etiquette becoming another topic of discussion on the Internet. The people in charge of networks and studios are a lot less patient and considerate when it comes to their artists and what they create, as evidenced by David Zaslav’s reign as CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, and how it has inspired other studio CEOs to follow in his greedy and incompetent footsteps.

Much like Alias, another series created by J.J. Abrams that saw him and his love of “mystery box” storytelling receive the majority of blame for any and all narrative stumbles, Lost is about the importance of found family, and how it can often provide the love, support, and happiness that one can’t always find with their biological families. It’s also about the path to redemption, which is far from easy, and is not always deserved. And it’s about how forgiving someone else, and forgiving yourself, can sometimes be just as difficult, but it’s a gift for those who are willing to offer it, and to accept it.

Lost is now streaming on Disney Plus, Hulu, and Netflix.