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While his HBO TV show, The Leftovers just ended, Damon Lindelof is still talking about the end of Lost on ABC. Don’t worry. This isn’t another rehash of the controversial Lost TV series finale. Instead, he goes into detail about how far he and co-showrunner Carlton Cuse went, in order to secure a definitive end-date for the show.
A mystery drama, Lost centered on the survivors on Oceanic Flight 815, which crashed on an usual, uncharted island in the South Pacific. The ABC TV show cast includes Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Terry O’Quinn, Naveen Andrews, Daniel Dae Kim, Emily de Ravin, Henry Ian Cusick, Michael Emerson, Domin=ic Monaghan, Harold Perrineau, Elizabeth Mitchess, and Ken Leung.
Speaking with Todd VanDerWerff, on the Vox podcast, “I Think You’re Interesting,” Lindelof touched on how hard he and Cuse had to fight to get ABC to agree to set a Lost end-date, so that they could write toward its conclusion. Check it out.
It was a battle for two years to basically get them to end the show. They said to Carlton [Cuse, Lindelof’s co-showrunner on Lost] and I, “We’re not going to do it.”
We went all the way down the road of letting our contracts expire. We had a succession plan in place. Only midway through the third season, when finally the audience and the critical community started saying, “Good God, I don’t know how much longer I can take this,” ABC did a calculation where they were like, “How long do we think the show would survive without Cuse and Lindelof, and how long can we talk them into doing it?”
And their opening salvo, midway through season three, was, “We’re going to let you end the show” — huge relief — “after 10 years.” We’re like, “No. We want to end it after the fourth season.” They were like, “Nine years.” We were like, “Five years?” They were like, “Eight years!” So six years was a huge victory for us.
What do you think? Did Lost end at the right time, or should the ABC TV series have run for a longer or shorter time?
It began brilliant. I loved the mystery, the not knowing. I remember a lot of fans in the beginning, sometime after the first season or two. We were all taking guesses at what we believe is really going on. One of the early guesses that a lot of people were making, the obvious guess, was that they are dead. It’s an “I see dead people”, it’s so played out and the worst part about it is how it affects a rewatch for when you want to revisit the show at a later time. It’s the type of ending that you… Read more »
I am still amazed at how great the show was, 6 seasons was more than enough to tell the tale of how Charlie took over Willie Wonka’s Chocolate factory, or should I say how Hurley took over the job of running the Island. Lost was as the title suggest about the struggle people have understanding the meaning of life and how we are all basically kind of “Lost”. Life is full of mysteries and challenges, and no one is perfect, but in the end there is salvation for those who look for it. A lot of people get hung up… Read more »
A great show that turned to crap after season three. Finale sucked, and I have never watched one rerun. Just like HIMYM, it doesn’t rerun well.
Season five is a thousand times better the second time.
Season five is probably the worst, season 6 is also bad
The show ended perfectly. Other than a few additional episodes (I would’ve liked more backstory a on a few characters like Libby, Tom, Ilana, etc.) the length of time the show ran was perfect.
They should’ve ended it after 3 years. It lost credibility after that. If the last 3 years were as good as they first 3, it could’ve been a great series.. but the last season was a complete train wreck
It is sad you failed to understand the show and its incredible value as an enlightening experience as to meaning of life, relationships, historical and religious history, science and mysticism. Etc etc. It is a waste of energy to view Lost as something to be critiqued when it is a learning experience to get us to think about how we live our lives and influences we don’t even know are happening. Lost is an awesome experience. To be rewatched.
I agree. I just watched this show. The last time I had watched it was about 10 years ago. Back then I didn’t, but now I do understand the show and you’re right!it’s an experience to make us rethink life
The show ended too soon and tried to wrap everything up too quickly and a lot of us fans hated the way it ended. I loved the show. It is my all time favorite. But the ending made me feel like I wasted six years. I would love to see a reboot. With creative writing you could bring back the original characters. Nothing is impossible on the island.
They should have ending the show naturally at a cliff hanger in Season 6 and taken a Summer break and pitch out a really fitting end to LOST and just done a theatrical movie finale of LOST.