Damon Lindelof has been associated with multiple acclaimed TV shows, including The Leftovers, Watchmen, and Mrs. Davis. But as he was promoting his latest streaming release—the DC Comics adaptation Lanterns, which just premiered on HBO Max—he was asked about another title that probably comes up a lot when he’s talking about his previous work: ABC’s six-season mystery epic Lost.
We mention the six seasons because anytime Lost gets mentioned, the conversation almost always turns to how the show started off incredibly strong, then started dragging, and then culminated in one of the most polarizing TV finales ever.
Lindelof is well aware of the criticism that’s lobbed at the show he co-created and was co-showrunner for. And if you look at his subsequent series, you see he’s kept that in mind ever since. In a press conference timed to the Lanterns premiere and reported on by Polygon, he explained how this new show will avoid the issues that made audiences turn on Lost.
Looking back at that show, which ran from 2004 to 2010 over 121 episodes, Lindelof recalled the network’s reluctance to let go of one of its biggest hits: “For a show that had a mystery engine, the audience was saying, ‘When are you going to tell us what the fuck is going on here?’ We’re like, ‘We really want to, but once we start answering mysteries, the show is coming down the hill, it’s closer to the end.’”
When it came time to map out Lanterns, Lindelof said that he and co-creator and showrunner Chris Mundy were on the same page.
“He said, ‘I want to tell a complete story. We’re going to do a mystery, and then, more importantly, we’re going to have a relationship story between these two guys that feels resolved at the end of the story that we’re telling.’ We want the audience to be really hungry for more when it ends,” Lindelof explained. “I think that it feels like it was a really good meal, but a couple of hours after you’ve consumed it, you’re going to say, ‘I think I want to spend some more time in that world.’”
As opposed to “get me the hell off this island,” perhaps? New episodes of Lanterns arrive on Sundays on HBO Max.
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