“A climactic fight between the forces of good and evil.” The abandoned ending of Lost could provide some answers, but also hurt the TV series finale
The finale of Lost could have resembled the duel on Mustafar, but the creators abandoned that ending, leaving one plot unexplained.
Although 14 years have passed since Lost ended, the series still has a cult following today. The production was a true phenomenon when it appeared on television. Viewers followed the fate of the castaways with bated breath, experiencing the twists and turns offered by the production creators. The mysteries in the TV series were numerous, and the ending of Lost, unfortunately, did not explain them all.
Some additional answers were to be provided by one version of the ending, which the creators eventually abandoned. In it, there was to be a spectacular volcanic eruption at the end, the theme of which had been running through the TV series for quite some time. Despite various references to the volcano, its theme and the reason why it was given any attention at all was never developed and resolved. It became one of the abandoned threads, which would live to see its solution in an alternative version of the ending.
Damon Lindelof talked about the rejected ending of Lost during an interview with EW:
The volcano had been dormant for the duration of the series, but based on moving into this endgame, the island had become unstable and the volcano was going to erupt. We were going to have lots of seismic activity, and ultimately, there was going to be this big fight between the forces of good and the forces of evil, which ended up in the series manifesting as Jack and The Man in Black, in the midst of magma. Magma spewing everywhere!
A final battle presented in this way would certainly be spectacular, but it could also hurt the TV show finale. The CGI in Lost often wasn’t too good, looking very unnatural and being immersion-breaking. So the effects, which were full of flaws, and the sheer spectacularity of the scenes, could have distracted viewers and drawn attention away from the characters who deserved full attention in those moments.
It was the conclusion of their fates that was crucial to the finale, so abandoning the “explosive” finale was a good decision. It allowed to ground the story and focus on the drama between the characters, which has always been the TV series' strongest point.
Unfortunately, this led to the omission of the volcano plot, which has played a role in the series for a long time. The creators intended it to be some kind of symbol of the fact that the island is the only thing that separates the world from the hellish apocalypse. More important than that, however, was the focus on what the TV show was about from the beginning. It was not about the island, but about the people on it.
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