Losts Creators And ABC Had Very Different Ideas About When The Show Should End – TVLine

The series finale of ABC’s hit survival drama “Lost” has been highly divisive since it aired in 2010 — but interestingly enough, the ending to “Lost” caused a commotion for the creators and the network, as well, who had very different ideas of when the series should come to an end.

Creators J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and co-showrunner, Carlton Cuse, originally approached ABC in Season 3 to negotiate an ending — one they wanted to come at the end of that season. Lindelof claims he had already been advocating for the show to end by that point.

“I believe as early as midway through the first season, when I was openly saying, ‘This show needs to end,'” he told Vulture in 2021. “If it wasn’t season one, it was in the break between seasons one and season two. It was early.”

However, the network proposed a counter-offer that far exceeded what the core creatives wanted for the show: To continue the series for a whopping nine total seasons.

Ultimately, the deal ended up landing somewhere in middle. The “Lost” creative team agreed to six seasons for the series, double what they wanted — but also significantly less than ABC asked for. Technically, it could be considered a win for Abrams, Lindelof, and Cuse. But to them, settling on an official endpoint, regardless of how many seasons it ended up being, was a creative necessity. “It was impossible to move forward without a clear sense of what the rest of the journey was,” Cuse told Vulture in 2021.

Once the creatives had their official endpoint from the network, it allowed them to build toward a conclusion worthy of the show’s epic (and emotional) heights. The last episode would go on to be considered one of the most controversial TV finales for years to come. But no matter the final impact, “Lost” inspired several shows like it, and the creative team was proud of one specific thing. “At least we were able to end the show on our own timetable,” Cuse explained to the outlet. “That was something that hadn’t been done before.”