When the pilot premiered in 2004, viewers flocked to the TV to watch Jack Shepard (Matthew Fox) as he single-handedly rescued the Oceanic Flight 815 passengers after their plane crashed. While Jack searched for way to escape the island, he continued to rescue the survivors from danger, from a polar bear to a smoke monster. In the initial stages, the Lost showrunner had planned to answer several ongoing questions over the next seasons: What was in the hatch at the end of the first season finale? Who are the first inhabitants of the island, known as The Others? And, what does the Smoke Monster want?
Three days ago, while speaking with Collider, Lindelof explained the problems that arose, “All this time when ABC would be like, ‘Why do you want to end the show?’ We’d say, ‘These flashbacks are finite.”
By the time Lost had grown in popularity and viewership, ABC did not want the phenomena to end. ABC President Steve McPherson expected the fantasy drama to last about 10 seasons. Faced with a daunting task, Lindelof wanted to end the show after four seasons. His discussions with McPherson left him wondering, “How do you even think we’re gonna get to 10?”
As the writer’s room struggled with conceiving ideas on how to extend the show, Lindelof admitted, “It became clear that we were working so hard to keep the characters on the island. And it was starting to be immensely frustrating. The flashbacks weren’t good anymore.”
Even the most loyal fans started to have doubts. While dedicated fans came up with theories to explain the show’s mysteries, viewers started to think the show writers were stringing random ideas along. When Lindelof and the network finally agreed upon six seasons, the episode count was cut short in order to give the writers more time to plot out the story arcs.
Even though the fourth season was short-lived due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, Lindelof felt “everything else went relatively according to design. Not to say that everything we did worked, but we had a plan and we executed that plan.”
The origins of the island were explored slightly during the final sixth season. In its real form, the Smoke Monster was actually the mysterious Man in Black (Titus Welliver), who may or may not have been the first resident of the island. Audiences weren’t given an explanation as to why the Smoke Monster made itself look like John Locke (Terry O’Quinn), even after killing him.
Lindelof explained how there was a give-and-take between answering and giving questions. He said, “So hopefully for every one that we answer, we’ve set up a new compelling mystery. If we get that balance right, they’re not gonna stack up.’ I think that we can both agree that we did not get that balance right.”
In the end, no matter how hard the writers tried, Lost ended up giving up more questions than answers.
Newsweek reached out to a representative for Lindelof for comment but did not hear back before publication.
