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The opening season featured 14 regular speaking roles, making it the second largest cast in American primetime television behind Desperate Housewives. While a large cast makes Lost more expensive to produce, the writers benefit from more flexibility in story decisions. According to series executive producer Bryan Burk, "You can have more interactions between characters and create more diverse characters, more back stories, more love triangles." The initial season had 14 major roles getting star billing. Naveen Andrews portrayed former Iraqi Republican Guard Sayid Jarrah. Emilie de Ravin played the pregnant Australian Claire Littleton. Matthew Fox acted as the troubled surgeon and protagonist Jack Shephard. Jorge Garcia portrayed Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, an unlucky lotto winner. Maggie Grace played Shannon Rutherford, a former dance teacher. Josh Holloway acted as con man James "Sawyer" Ford. Yunjin Kim played Sun-Hwa Kwon, the daughter of a powerful Korean businessman and mobster, with Daniel Dae Kim as her husband Jin-Soo Kwon. Evangeline Lilly portrayed fugitive Kate Austen. Dominic Monaghan acted as an ex-rock star drug addict Charlie Pace. Terry O'Quinn played the mysterious John Locke. Harold Perrineau portrayed construction worker Michael Dawson, while child actor Malcolm David Kelley acted as his young son, Walt Lloyd. Ian Somerhalder played Boone Carlyle, chief operating officer of his mother's wedding business and step brother of Shannon. During the first two seasons, some characters were written out to make room for new characters with new stories. Boone Carlyle was the first major character to be written out in season one. Walt became a guest star after the events of the first season's finale, making rare appearances throughout season two. Shannon's departure eight episodes into season two made way for newcomers Eko, a Nigerian Catholic priest and former criminal played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ana Lucia Cortez, an airport security guard and former police officer played by Michelle Rodriguez, and Libby, a purported clinical psychologist portrayed by Cynthia Watros. Ana Lucia and Libby were written out of the series toward the end of season two, as were Michael and Walt. In season three, Henry Ian Cusick received star billing as former Scottish soldier Desmond David Hume, as did Michael Emerson in the role of Benjamin Linus (formerly known as Henry Gale), a high ranking member of the "Others." In addition, three new actors joined the regular cast: Elizabeth Mitchell, as Dr. Juliet Burke and Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro as couple Nikki Fernandez and Paulo. Eko was written out early in the season; Nikki and Paulo were killed mid-season in their first flashback episode. Finally, Charlie Pace was written off in the season finale. In season four, Harold Perrineau rejoins the main cast to reprise the role of Michael Dawson. Along with Perrineau, Malcolm David Kelley will also reprise his role as Walt in unknown extent. In addition, five new actors have joined the cast. Ken Leung, Lance Reddick, Rebecca Mader, Jeremy Davies and Jeff Fahey have all been cast in unknown, yet much speculated roles. The actors are expected to have recurring roles throughout the season. Numerous supporting characters have been given expansive and recurring appearances in the progressive storyline. In the second season, Rose Henderson played by L. Scott Caldwell and tail section survivor Bernard Nadler played by Sam Anderson were featured in a flashback episode after being reunited. Mira Furlan as Danielle Rousseau, the shipwrecked Frenchwoman, appears throughout the series. Some of the "Others," including M. C. Gainey as Tom, William Mapother as Ethan Rom, Tania Raymonde as Alex Rousseau and Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, have been shown in both flashbacks and the ongoing story. Similarly, Jack's father Christian Shephard (John Terry) has appeared in multiple flashbacks of various characters. |
