8 TV Shows Saved By Ridiculously Last Minute Changes
5. Jack Shepherd Was Due To Die In The Lost Pilot Episode
To say Lost was divisive is probably underplaying it. The drama about a group of plane crash survivors marooned on a mystical island pretty much divided people into two groups - those who felt the writers had a grand plan behind all the red herrings and mysteries, and those who felt they were chancers making it up as they went along.
The truth, as ever, is somewhere in the middle. Two of the co-creators, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, did write a "series bible" to outline the show's complex mythology, but it's undoubted that unplanned changes and uncertainty over how long the show would have to tell its story effected their grand vision.
In fact, the show's mythology had to be amended early on - Jack Shepherd, de facto main character and leader of the Oceanic survivors, was never supposed to lead his friends off the island (then back again).
The original plan was for Jack to be played by a big name - Michael Keaton was in mind for the role - for the audience to believe he would be the main character and then, in a classic Lost bait-and-switch, he would be killed off in the pilot, leaving the audience to watch the rest of the castaways survive without their leader. Network executives, in a rare showing of foresight, thought audiences would react badly to the death of a heroic main character so early on, and insisted Jack live. The pilot was retooled and Jack became a key player instead of an attention-grabbing cameo. Whatever you think of Lost, it's undeniable that the show was much the better for it.