Of the characters who've been.....? (SPOILERS through 5x05)

[chrisspringob]

An awful lot of characters have been killed off in "Lost". Does anyone have the lowdown with regard to which of these characters were written off of the show for "real world reasons" (the actor wanted to move on, or the producers had a dispute with the actor and wanted to get rid of them or what have you), and which were written off for purely story reasons (the actor would've been happy to stay, and got along well with everyone, but the story required that the character die)?

IIRC, back in Season 1, one of the producers said that Boone was killed off solely to make the audience believe that the characters were mortal, and reinforce the idea that the Island was a threatening place.....so that would count as story reasons. I think I read that Michael was also written out (both times?) for story reasons. I'm not sure about the others though. I think a lot of them were written out for "real world" reasons, but I'm not sure about that.

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ Yeah, Michael was written out for story reasons and from what I heard, Harold Perrineau wasn't happy about it.

Two characters I know of who were killed off because the actors didn't want to stay on the show were Mira Furlan and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (I had to look up his name and paste it here). From what I understand, Mira didn't want to keep going to Hawaii to do her scenes and Adewale was having problems and wanted out. Maybe someone here can provide more details.

I also read recently that Alex was killed off because the whole "Ben's daughter" thing wasn't popular. I was surprised. I don't know much about that either though.

 

[Aragorn]

From what I read, the Charlie storyline had come to an end and the actor left on amicable terms. With Shannon, I figure the writers just didn't know what they hell they were doing with her.

Of the actors with "troublemaking" headlines, supposedly Eko wanted out and Anna Lucia was supposed to be a one-season deal only, but who really knows other than the people that fired them?

 

[chrisspringob]

Of the actors with "troublemaking" headlines, supposedly Eko wanted out and Anna Lucia was supposed to be a one-season deal only, but who really knows other than the people that fired them?

Well, normally, stuff like this makes its way out to the press. For example, there was never any secret that Terry Farrell left DS9 of her own accord, not because the writers thought it would serve the story to get rid of her. On Lost, though, there seem to be more cases in which we're kind of in the dark as to what happened behind the scenes (or maybe I just haven't paid as much attention?).

Maybe this is just a consequence of the move towards more serialization in TV. 10 years ago, there were hardly any shows on TV in which getting rid of a character for "story reasons" would have made any sense.

 

[Mr Light]

I also read the actor who played Karl (Alex's boyfriend) asked out because he got a play or something like that.

 

[Mallet]

Lady playing Charlotte is going to star in a movie with George Clooney. Maybe that's why shes been axed.

 

[Starbreaker]

Rebecca Mader (Charlotte) signed on for an 8 episode contract but stayed on for a lot more.
Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) was an amicable decision.
Harold Perrineau (Michael) was written out for story reasons. He's never been pleased.
Maggie Grace (Shannon) - said they ran out of stuff to do with her character
Ian Somerhalder (Boone) - story
AAA (Eko) didn't gel with the cast. Damon & Carlton have stated they had plans for him well past S3.

Cynthia Watros (Libby) - supposedly her "story has been told", but I still think it was the DUI.
Michelle Rodriguez (Ana-Lucia) - it was a hell of a storyline, but I think it was the DUI too.
Rodrigo Santoro & Kylie Sanchez (Nikki & Paulo) - fan backlash
Mira Furlan (Danielle) - didn't want to fly to Hawaii
Blake Bashoff (Karl) - wanted out to be in a play
Tania Raymonde (Alex) - said she got a call that she was going to be the casualty that sent Ben over the edge, but is looking forward to reappearing in flashbacks (or whatever they're doing now. )

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Re: the DUI... maybe we've got it all backwards (Brotha). Maybe the two actresses in question first knew they were leaving the show, and then decided to have two individual, completely separate blowouts to celebrate.

 

[Ben Sisko3]

I also read the actor who played Karl (Alex's boyfriend) asked out because he got a play or something like that.

That'd be the Broadway musical Spring Awakening.

 

[chrisspringob]

What about Claire? Did the actress want to leave, or was it for story reasons?

 

[Ben Sisko3]

What about Claire? Did the actress want to leave, or was it for story reasons?

Story reasons. She'll be back in S6.

 

[Skywalker]

I thought Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje left the show because his parents had recently died and he no longer had his heart in it?

 

[Mr Light]

The first things we heard when AAA left was that he was a "method" actor who never broke character and didn't speak to a soul when they weren't filming and didn't socialize with anyone, and he just hated being there. I think the writers also said he was only going to be there a year at the time, like Rodriguez. Then about a year after he left there was an interview about his parents dying and him not wanting to be there.

 

[Aragorn]

So Eko, Anna Lucia and Libby all died just to get Bernard back. He better turn out to be Jacob!

 

[Ben Sisko3]

The first things we heard when AAA left was that he was a "method" actor who never broke character and didn't speak to a soul when they weren't filming and didn't socialize with anyone, and he just hated being there. I think the writers also said he was only going to be there a year at the time, like Rodriguez. Then about a year after he left there was an interview about his parents dying and him not wanting to be there.

AAA is method? That's frightening. I take back any comment I may have had about wanting to hang out on the set of Oz!

 

[Zulu Romeo]

So Eko, Anna Lucia and Libby all died just to get Bernard back. He better turn out to be Jacob!

He's Adam of course.

(by the way, I hope I'm proven wrong about this. )