Lost star Michael Emerson gives verdict on the show’s controversial finale

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Michael Emerson has given his verdict on the divisive final episode of Lost.

The actor, 70, played villainous island native Benjamin Linus in the esoteric plane crash drama, which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary.

The series is now finding a new lease of life on streaming platform Netflix, onto which all six seasons were added in August.

Emerson claimed Lost ended in a “perfect” way, despite the long-running series having one of the most misunderstood series finales in television history.

*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*

Speaking to Radio Times, Emerson said: “I adored it when we shot it, and I like it even better with the passage of time. I think it’s a wonderful conclusion.”

Season six of the show presented the concept that the island was a metaphorical cork bottling up some very bad things that, if unleashed into civilisation, would cause all kinds of destruction.

Emerson continued: “I always say, every show dictates its own ending by the form of its narrative, by the way it was constructed. So a show like Lost can’t have the same ending as something more linear or conventional.

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“It was a fantasy and an allegory exploding out from the centre,” he explained. “So to end it, you must bring all the parts back to the centre, I think. At least, it seems to me, that that was what they were attempting to do.

“To me, it was really satisfying – particularly if you’re playing Benjamin Linus and you’re left outside the gates of the hereafter on a cold stone bench because you haven’t earned it yet. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s perfect.’ It really was perfect. And sad too, in a way.”

The actor added: “The work mirrored the social ending of the family. All my friends in the cast were trooping by to go off to some golden paradise, and I’m there saying goodbye as they pass. And it was the end of things. It was the end of that golden adventure, in addition to the show.”

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Emmy award-winning series Lost originally aired in 2004 and drew to a close in 2010. Its ensemble cast included Evangeline Lilly, Elizabeth Mitchell and Josh Holloway.

Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse told EW in 2017 that they’d planned to end the show with a huge volcano eruption but the idea was scuppered by budget reasons. “We were always looking to cannibalise anything on Hawaii to aid in the visual storytelling of the show,“ Cuse said.

“We also thought of the island as a character on the show, so we were always looking for things that would give it more personality.”