Today it is very difficult to imagine another cast for ‘Lost’, even if it were only changing a few actors and actresses. But as happens with all casting processes, the series was about to have other very different protagonists, and in fact originally Michael Keaton I was going to play one of the main characters.
Series yes… but not in the long term
Before Matthew Fox entered the scene, those responsible for ‘Lost’ had Michael Keaton in mind to lead the group of survivors and JJ Abrams himself offered the role to Keaton.
In this part of the development of the series, the character was very different from how we finally met him, starting because he was not a doctor, but one of the pilots of the plane. Just like the Jack we met, the series would position him as the main character and the leader of the group, but he was going to have a very different future.
Apparently, Keaton’s character was designed to die in the last ten minutes of the first episode. The actor had a certain bug for appearing in a series and he also liked the idea of biting people thinking that he was going to be the protagonist only for his character to die as soon as the story started.
The problem came because at some pointSomeone grew fond of Jack’s character and the scripts were changed so that he would survive. So Keaton, not wanting to commit to any long-term series, ended up turning down the role.
Of course that’Lost’ had no fear of killing characters, however important they might be, and killing their biggest star in the first chapter would have signed a statement of intent for the rest of the series.
The rest is history. Fox ended up playing Jack and ‘lost‘ became one of the most influential series in television history. In the end Keaton has indeed launched himself more into the world of televisionalbeit in limited episodes and, above all, with the miniseries ‘Dopesick: Story of an Addiction’, which has also earned him a Golden Globe and an Emmy.