With some many TV shows being rebooted over the last several years, it’s worth wondering if the time has come for Lost to get the same treatment. The ABC series, which had a memorable six-season run, was a huge hit for the network and was easily one of the most talked-about TV shows of its time. Given its continued popularity years afters its conclusion in 2010, Lost has repeatedly been discussed as a prime candidate for a revival.
The creators of Lost have expressed disinterest in returning to helm a new series based in Lost’s universe, but the possibility of ABC revisiting the concept hasn’t been ruled out. The number of successful shows from the 2000s being brought back in recent years has only served to fuel speculation surrounding Lost’s chances of being resurrected either on ABC or Disney+. The show’s story was concluded and its mysteries were solved, but that doesn’t mean another team of writers couldn’t go back to the island with a new cast of characters and perhaps some surprising twists on existing ideas.
Enough Time Has Passed For A Lost Reboot
ABC has reportedly toyed with the thought of rebooting Lost since the late 2010s, but going in that direction would have been a big risk. Lost hadn’t ended that long ago by that point, so the stories and characters were still somewhat fresh in the minds of viewers. However, this would no longer been an issue in 2023. It’s been 13 years since Lost ended, and in 2024, it’ll be 20 years since the show’s series premiere aired. With that being the case, enough time has passed for ABC to seriously consider bringing back the concept.
Since Lost began almost two decades ago, a return to the island in 2024 or 2025 would have deep nostalgic appeal, which it couldn’t have had as a 2010s TV series. Plus, it would be capable of bringing in new generations of viewers who didn’t experience the original show during its six-year run. In other words, the Lost reboot would be in a position to build a new audience while also benefiting from its already-massive fanbase that it cultivated in the 2000s.
Where The Original Lost Went Wrong
Lost boasted compelling mysteries, interesting characters with diverse backgrounds, and all sorts of unexpected twists and turns. But for all of its strengths, Lost didn’t have a perfect run. Many, admittedly, were unfortunate consequences of actors deciding to leave the show. There were multiple situations where Lost spent considerable time and effort on developing a character and endearing them to viewers, only to kill them off unceremoniously, such was the fate of Ana Lucia in season 2 and Mr. Eko in season 3. While shocking deaths are part of the fabric of Lost, there were some that resulted in stories being dropped before they could be properly paid off. One example of that is Libby, whose mental illness was set up as a plot point, but wasn’t explored.
What happened with Libby speaks to a larger problem with Lost. It’s tendency to tee up mysteries and avoid explaining them was a troubling issue that furthered concerns that Lost’s writers didn’t have a fully-realized plan for the series. One of its biggest abandoned storylines relates to Walt, who seemingly possessed psychic powers. Due to the show’s story playing out over a short period of time, Walt actor Malcolm David Kelley’s aging pushed the showrunners into nixing the character from the story. In light of how season 1 had built him up to be of extreme importance to the show’s mythos, Walt’s absence from the seasons that followed became a glaring issue. Other mysteries, like the polar bear, simply took entirely too long to unfold and were seemingly forgotten over time, only to be addressed as what felt like afterthoughts years later.
How A Lost Reboot Could Succeed Today
Rebooting Lost would come with its fair share of challenges, but it’s not an unfeasible goal to undertake. As was the case with the original series, what will ultimately lay the foundation for its success is the characters. Lost excelled in developing deep, individual backstories and relationships for its principal characters, who were all likable in their own way. Recreating this formula can be how the reboot gets started on the right track.
Ensuring that its own cast are as well-developed and nuanced as Matthew Fox’s Jack, Desmond, Kate, and all the others would obviously be essential to its success, but having so many good characters is only half of what made Lost such a beloved part of TV history. The mysteries it created at the beginning of the series and how it continued to raise similar questions as the story progressed had a lot to do with why viewers kept coming back from week to week. The problem, though, is that the show already explained the purpose of the smoke monster, why other people were on the island, and what made it so special. A new interpretation of Lost would struggle to tell the same story and still find a way to generate interest in the island.
To work, a reboot would need to shake up the Lost mythos so that it can offer something new. It has to create mysteries that can’t be answered by the same explanations used in the original series. But in addition to forging all-new roads for its characters to embark on, the reboot should also remember its roots at the same time. The series can make a second look at Lost feel worthwhile if it takes this opportunity to dive deeper into key reveals that weren’t explored to their full potential. Season 6, for instance, did explain Jacob’s origin and introduce the heart of the island to finally explain Lost’s biggest mysteries, but it didn’t go into who Jacob’s mother really was or why the heart of the island exists.
Lost did have answers to most of its questions, but they were sometimes too vague to be truly satisfying. A Lost reboot can correct that by explaining things that the original show only touched on. All things considered, an enjoyable and rewarding adaptation of Lost’s story can indeed happen, but getting it to live up to the high expectations set by its predecessor will take another perfectly-cast group of characters and a masterfully weaved web of mysteries (and answers to go with them.)
