Evolution of a Lost Cast 2004-2008

I got to thinking about how much the main cast of Lost has fluctuated over the years, and it inspired me to do (what else?) a little retrospective by way of cast publicity photos.

Remember when all we had were those original Oceanic 815 survivors: Jack, Kate, Charlie, Sawyer, Sayid, Sun and Jin, Michael and Walt, Boone and Shannon, Claire, Hurley, and the mysterious Locke? Here they are in the original Season 1 poster and an early publicity shot:

Poor Boone bit the dust late in Season 1, and Walt's season finale kidnapping removed him from the official cast list as well. With those removals and the show at sky-high popularity levels, the producers decided to expand the cast for Season 2 by way of the oh-yeah-I-forgot-they-ever-existed Tailies. Here's some art for Season 2 with Eko, Ana-Lucia, and Libby - and notice the late Shannon's absence from the second piece:

At the advent of Season 3, it was out with the Tailies and Michael - he shot Ana-Lucia and Libby and then took off with Walt, remember - and in with the Others, as Ben and Juliet (and a post-Hatch Desmond, for that matter, brotha) show up for the first time. Notice Eko in the first piece, from the Season 3 DVD cover, since he survived the first few episodes before getting punched to death by Smokey. He's gone, however, in the second, which was taken in promotion of Season 3's final sixteen episodes (all of which took place after his death).

(Even though they got their own flashback episode, and even though Bernard is the only surviving Tailie not taken by the Others, Rose and Bernard officially remain guest stars and thus do not appear in any of these pictures. However, bizarrely, Nikki and Paolo actually were official cast members - bonus points to anyone who can find a cast photo which includes them.)

This finally brings us to Season 4. Only one updated cast photo exists as far as I know, and obviously there's no DVD art yet. But all three Tailies are gone now, and only 9 of the original 14 survivors are left after Charlie's noble sacrifice. But lest you think the cast seems to be thinning out - it's down to twelve in this photo - we've got the Freighter Four appearing in the credits as regular cast members...along with the re-appearance of the name Harold Perinneau...