included more than a dozen characters all vying for screen time, why introduce a whole second set of survivors? Carlton: I think the show has to constantly keep moving forward; it’s a story-based series, it’s not a franchise-based series. With any great epic story, you’re constantly going to meet new characters, and that’s just a part of the evolution of the story. There will always be new characters that will be joining the cast of Lost. Damon: And you’ll notice we sort of lost two to gain two. Ana Lucia and Mr. Eko were sort of the two main characters to incorporate from the tail section, although Libby and Bernard were sort of secondtier characters. But those two characters actually ended up replacing Shannon and Boone. CCI: There seems to be a real connection between Hurley and new cast member Libby (Cynthia Watros). Is it cool for your character to finally have a bit of a love interest on the show? Jorge Garcia: It was very cool, especially because how often does a guy like me get an onscreen kiss? CCI: But there was that scene this season with Hurley in the mental institution and Libby sitting across from you. Is all of Lost just a fantasy in Hurley’s mind? Jorge: You might think that if it was in Hurley’s mind there would be a lot more going his way. Seriously. His girlfriend wouldn’t have been shot. CCI: The island of Lost seems to actually cure people. Locke walks again and Rose is cancer free. Is the island some kind of healing zone where the medical problems people arrive with are miraculously cured?
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Damon: That’s certainly a big part of the speculation. As we don’t entirely know what Locke was doing in the wheelchair yet, that question is up for grabs. Certainly one could argue that Rose believing she’s healed does not necessarily mean that she is. So this is one of those places the show lives where we as storytellers find it really interesting. Whether the island is doing that, or whether it’s a degree of their own faith in being on the island lies the rub, but you know, going into season three, that very question is something that will be a real central focus of the storytelling next year. CCI: Before Lost debuted, dramatic TV seemed to be going the way of the dinosaur. Now we’re seeing a
Executive producer Carlton Cuse and executive producer/co-creator Damon Lindelof of Lost. plethora of intricately plotted, multi-storyline shows. Did Lost revive the drama series for network TV? Carlton: I think it changed the paradigm. It sort of made it possible for shows with large casts, and story-based as opposed to franchise-based series, to be seen as highly viable. And I think it also opened the door for science fiction. We see Lost as a show that is a character show with science fiction embedded in it. The networks considered it pretty much a closed door for science fiction before Lost. Damon: There was a similar thing when X-Files became a hit. It spawned a whole series of X-Files type spin-offs. These shows work for the same reason most shows work, because people really attached to the characters. There was something so compelling about Mulder and Scully. We don’t think that we’ve really reinvented anything, we’ve just sort of taken elements from shows and movies that we really love and put them all into one big pot and mixed it up. And hopefully that has allowed the networks to think a little more outside the box in terms of what a successful TV show can look like. Jorge: I think it definitely had an impact just by how many pilots the year after Lost (debuted) had Lost type qualities to them. I heard from Sam Anderson. who plays Bernard on the show, and he was talking about pilot season this year being full of shows that included flashbacks. For me, anything that gets more actors working is fantastic. So yeah, I’m glad Lost has had that influence. It’s also kind of cool that it seems to have put new energy and a little more risk into narrative drama series.
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