Although Lost is considered to be one of the most iconic TV shows of all time, its ending left many misunderstanding the show’s finale entirely.
However, the writers of the hit series reopened the Dharma hatch when talking to EW in 2017 to discuss the alternative ending that they originally had planned for the final season.
Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse spoke about how the volcano, which was subtly introduced in season 3, was going to play a much larger part.
Cuse explained how the island was thought of as its own “character on the show”, which led to the creators trying to find ways to “give it more personality.”
Although the island wasn’t your stereotypical human character, it later was revealed to be similar to a cork bottling up an immense amount of evil that, if unleashed, would leak into the rest of the world.
Lindelof added: “The question was always, how do you basically visualise and dramatise the idea that the island itself is all that separates the world from hellfire and damnation?”
He continued: “The answer was the volcano.”
Lost‘s volcano, as mentioned, was subtly introduced during a flashback scene in the third season – however, it never ended up amounting too much.
“The volcano had been dormant for the duration of the series,” he added.
He continued to explain that although “dormant”, the volcano’s subtle teases were “based on moving onto this endgame, the island had become unstable and the volcano was going to erupt.”
“We were going to have lots of seismic activity, and ultimately, there was going to be this big fight between the forces of good and the forces of evil, which ended up in the series manifesting as Jack and The Man in Black, in the midst of magma. Magma spewing everywhere!”
Sadly for the creator’s plans, ABC deemed the volcano too costly for the show, hence why the final season’s climax ended on the cliffs of the island.
“ABC was like, ‘Guys, we love you, and we’re letting you end the show; we can’t let you bankrupt the network in the process’,” Lindelof explained.
Lost is now streaming on Netflix.
