We know Lost. We love Lost. We still could easily get "lost" in the mythos of the ending of Lost. Did they die in the end? Did Oceanic Flight 815 ever even crash into the island to begin with? That’s neither here nor there.
But alas, the cast members who comprised that passengers list, and the “Others” they met along the way, made quite the impression as they fended off the "Man in Black" and sacrificed their lives to save their comrades. Who can forget when Charlie made sure Desmond knew that the boat he thought belonged to his lost love was, in fact, “Not Penny’s Boat?” RIP.
Ten years after the smash hit ABC series ended, I decided that we "had to go back" and splash around in those mystical cavernous waters once more. Although none of us necessarily wants to become the "guardian of the light" like Jacob or worse, his "mother."
Instead, as the show is known famously for its use of flashbacks to inform the present circumstances of the plane crash survivors, I decided to hop back in time myself and track how long some of the starriest supporting players survived on that godforsaken island - time stamp by time stamp.
And the funny thing is, many weren't even on the series for as long as our memories might serve. In fact, these DHARMA Initiative ops and Apollo bar-munching characters were only "lost" for 25 minutes or less total. And here they are, in descending order...
9. Rodrigo Santoro
The reigning champ of the Lost 25 minutes or less club is in fact, Rodrigo Santoro, or, as my generation knows him, Laura Linney's office crush in Love Actually. But as Paulo on Lost, he was half of one of the most reviled (Maybe too strong of a word, but not exactly the fan favorite) couples in Lost history when he and Nikki joined the cast in Season 3.
They'd been there all along since the crash, but they were supposed to shed light on the “background” survivors that weren’t spearheading the group like Jack and Locke. But because they were not necessarily beloved, they were buried alive by the end of the season. Not the greatest way to go by any means.
Santoro is a very successful actor in his home country of Brazil, but we’ve also seen him in a number of English-language productions since Lost like the 300 movie series, What To Expect When You’re Expecting, The 33, and this summer’s Project Power. But most notably, he has appeared in the last three seasons of HBO’s Westworld.
Lost Survival Rate: 24 minutes, 34 seconds
8. Allison Janney
Allison Janney was already a mega Hollywood star before appearing in Season 6 of Lost as the adoptive “Mother” to young Jacob and the young “Man in Black.” In case you forgot, she murdered their birth mother who was shipwrecked. Raising them as their own, Mother eventually names Jacob the new protector of the “heart of the island” and bid him to drink from the cup in the cave of light.
Conversely, the Man in Black left her once he learned the truth of his parentage, and after his birth mother’s people were killed, he came back to seek revenge and kill their “Mother” once and for all. In a classic Lost twist of fate, she thanked him in the end. But she was avenged not long after by Jacob, who threw his twin brother into the cave of light and sentenced him to a fate worse than death. He became the feared Smoke Monster.
Aside from standout appearances in films like 10 Things I Hate About You (Miss Perky and her kitty mug, we salute you) and American Beauty pre-Lost, she played C.J. Cregg on The West Wing for seven seasons and racked up four Emmy awards as the White House Press Secretary.
Her Lost episode was a one-off, but crucial to explaining the folklore behind the island’s origins and the fight between the two brothers who represent the light and the dark of the island.
Post-Lost, we’ve seen Janney on series like Masters of Sex and Mom, as well as win the best supporting actress Oscar for I, Tonya.
Lost Survival Rate: 23 minutes, 24 seconds
7. Kim Dickens
Before she was kicking zombie ass on Fear the Walking Dead, Kim Dickens entered the Lost world as a pivotal figure (Cassidy Phillips) in the lives of both Sawyer and Kate.
First, she falls for Sawyer, learning all the ways to con a person under his tutelage, while not realizing she was really his long con all along. Unbeknownst to him, she is carrying his child, and when she confronts him in prison after pressing charges, she lets him know he has a daughter — Clementine Phillips. Once he "cheats and lies his way out of prison" by making a deal with the warden, he requests that his compensation be placed in a bank account made out in her name without any trace to him.
In one of Kate's flashbacks, she helps Cassidy when she tries to con a few hapless gas station goers, as they threatened to call the cops. Cassidy in turn helps Kate speak to her mother after their major falling out and confides in her about how she fell in the love with the wrong guy. She wants her to meet with her mom "because one of us deserves something good." Once all is said and done, Kate forges a real bond with Cassidy and even tells her her real name.
We last see Cassidy when Kate goes to visit her after she and the Oceanic Six return home. She gives her money and lets her know Sawyer asked her to take care of Clementine. But Cassidy sees through it all and tells Kate "you've got the same look on your face that I did when he ditched me. All I have for you is sympathy."
As Kate brought back Claire's son Aaron, who she gave birth to on the island, Cassidy is the one who aids Kate in realizing she should give him to Claire's mother to take care of but to give herself a break. "You needed him. Sawyer broke your heart. How else were you supposed to fix it?"
Pre-all the Sawyer and Kate drama, Dickens starred as Joanie Stubbs on Deadwood, and has since played Shelby Saracen on Friday Night Lights, Janette Desautel in Treme, Colette Jane in Sons of Anarchy, Kate Baldwin on House of Cards, Eve Raytek on Briarpatch, and, of course, Madison Clark on Fear the Walking Dead.
Lost Survival Rate: 22 minutes, 55 seconds
6. Eric Lange
Eric Lange plays the bull-headed DHARMA initiative devotee Stuart Radzinsky throughout the fifth season of Lost, once the Oceanic Six fly back to the island. But only Sayid, Hurley, Jack, and Kate get stuck in 1977 with those who were left behind like Sawyer and Jin, who are now covertly working as operatives for DHARMA.
At first, Radzinsky is in charge of the Flame station while building his ever so intricate model. He becomes the major proponent for killing off Sayid amongst the group, since he believes he's a spy who has seen the plans for his sought after model (Yeah, sure, Stu.).
Radzinsky is the one who begins the revolt to ensure that the drilling happens at the construction site, despite warnings from Dr. Pierre Chang that continuing on could lead to a cataclysmic accident. Little does he care, he came to the island to "change the world" and that's damn well what he's going to do. Well, once they hit the pocket of energy and it goes bezerk, off he runs out of site. Real staunch innovator there, who's gone before Juliet detonates the hydrogen bomb at the bottom of the construction site's chasm.
Lange is an established actor in the TV realm, with regular and recurring roles after Lost on everything from the levity of Victorious to the grave worlds of Escape at Dannemora and Unbelievable. Most recently, he played Detective Holcomb on Perry Mason.
Lost Survival Rate: 22 minutes, 35 seconds
5. Justin Chatwin
John Locke needed "Further Instructions" (Season 3, Episode 3) when he met Justin Chatwin's undercover cop Eddie Colburn, who pretended to be a hitchhiker to gain the trust of Locke back in the real world. He joined Locke at his commune for six weeks, in order to expose the marijuana leaders Mike and Jan have been growing in their greenhouse.
Locke offers to take care of the situation and brings Eddie out to the woods with the intent to shoot him - he didn't load Eddie's gun. But he can't bring himself to do it, even after Eddie admits Locke was chosen for the operation because he hadn't been at the commune long, he didn't have a criminal record, and his psych profile suggested he was "amenable to coercion."
He lets Eddie go free, and we never see him again. But we did see Chatwin not too long after in his long-running stints on Shameless, American Gothic, and Another Life.
Lost Survival Rate: 9 minutes, 33 seconds
4. Nathan Fillion
We meet Nathan Fillion in one of Kate's flashbacks, as her soon-to-be policeman husband, Kevin. But as she is on the run from her past (blowing up a house with her abusive stepfather inside), he only knows her as Monica and fell for her because "what you see is what you get."
The two get hitched in Season 3, Episode 6, "I Do," but Kate can't keep up the facade after six months of marriage, especially when she almost got pregnant. She confesses to him that she's a fugitive and loves him but has to leave. Bidding him a tearful farewell, she drugs him so when he's questioned, he can answer truthfully that he was none the wiser and wouldn't lose his job.
Fillion's veteran TV credits pre-Lost include the Whedonverse's Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Post, he moved onto Wisteria Lane as Dr. Adam Mayfair on Desperate Housewives, starred as Richard Castle on Castle, popped up in Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet, Big Mouth, and A Series of Unfortunate Events, and currently plays the oldest rookie officer of the LAPD on Rookie.
Lost Survival Rate: 6 minutes, 41 seconds
3. Rob McElhenney
Rob McElhenney wasn’t too long a member of the Lost cavalry, but his character Aldo did appear as a guard on Hydra Island. Keeping watch over Alex's kidnapped boyfriend Karl, he is tricked by Kate, Alex, and Sawyer into handing over the keys. "Don't get mad at me just because you were dumb enough to fall for the old 'Wookiee prisoner gag,'" Sawyer says just to roast him.
We see Aldo again in the last season at the Temple. Still disgruntled by their previous encounter, he reminds Kate, "Don't you recognize me? Three years ago you staged yourself a little prison break, and you did it by knocking the guard out with the butt of your rifle. That would be me." And she knocks him out, yet again. But Aldo ultimately meets his end when Claire shoots him and his partner dead to save Jin.
McElhenney is most well known for creating It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He also is the executive producer and a star of the show, writing and directing episodes as well. It’s a full-time job making sure Paddy’s Pub keeps running without a hitch.
Lost Survival Rate: 4 minutes, 45 seconds
2. Lana Parrilla
Lana Parrilla had a short guest role spanning three episodes on Lost in Season 3, as she apprehends Charlie, albeit a little less violently than her teammate Bonnie, at the underwater Looking Glass station of the DHARMA Initiative. On assignment to jam all radio transmissions off the island, she and Bonnie talk to Ben Linus for guidance on how to handle their new hostage. He sends Mikhail, who shoots both the guards before throwing a grenade that floods the station.
As Once Upon a Time creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis wrote on Lost (including one of Parrilla's featured episodes, "Greatest Hits"), it was a natural transition for Parrilla to find herself in the OUAT universe years later. Playing Storybrooke’s very own Evil Queen from the Snow White fairytale, how ironic it is that Parrilla worked at the “Looking Glass” station on Lost.
Well, mirror mirror, on the wall, Parrilla turned out to be the fairest of them all after all, as her OUAT character Regina Mills forged her own form of a hero’s journey throughout the show’s seven-season run, finally finding her happy ending in the series finale.
Lost Survival Rate: 4 minutes, 30 seconds
1. Billy Dee Williams
Lando Calrissian needs no introduction — in real life or on Lost apparently, as he played himself in just one episode of the series — Season 3, Episode 14, "Exposé." Acting opposite Nikki in a Charlie's Angels-esque, crime-fighting series shooting in Sydney, Williams was Mr. LaShade, the villain stealing money from an orphanage under the "Cobra" code name.
Attempting to fend him off, Nikki aka "Corvette" utters her "razzle dazzle" catchphrase, but is effectively shot and killed on the show-within-the-show. Although, her producer boyfriend says she could come back next season if she really wanted to... but granted, that was before she and Paulo poisoned him.
Anyway, once Nikki has her "series wrap," her co-star helps her up from the ground and she says, "Billy Dee, it was so great working with you." He graciously tells her the pleasure was "all mine, thank you so much." And that's all Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz wrote... for Billy Dee Williams' cameo.
Lost Survival Rate: 57 seconds (not even a minute!)
From entire standalone episodes centered around their characters to scene-stealing cameos, these actors in one way or another aided, hindered, or forced our Lost protagonists into fatefully becoming the heroes they were always meant to be. Even if they were only stranded on Lost for 25 minutes or less.
All six seasons of Lost are now streaming on Hulu.
Images: ABC