'Lost' Background Characters - Clues or Just Extras?
I know this may seem like the obvious, but sometimes I think some of the secondary actors on Lost are just used as extras in small parts for a couple of seconds of on-screen time and don't necessarily have a connection to the main characters of the series.What do you think? Vote in the poll, then return to this page to add your thoughts to the comments.Alright, that sounds confusing, so let me explain. We all know there are secondary characters in the show that link other characters together. For instance, the real "Sawyer" who is John Locke's dad was linked to the Sawyer we know on the island and the man he later killed.
But then there are characters like Randy Nations and the man who played the old man that Hurley paid to use his scooter at the airport who also played a priest in another episode with Charlie confessing to him. In those instances, with these actors, I just think they are extras and not meant to link to other characters. The actor who plays Randy Nations is probably a fill in of small parts.
I can't tell you how many times I saw a movie, (take Rush Hour 1 and 2 for instance) and some of the actors that play the bad guys that Jackie Chan fights return in the sequel but they aren't linked to the same story. It's just the same actor under a different character. So while I think certain characters are definitely linked together in the Lost series, I think when Bonnie was doing the Lost character link portion on About.com she analyzed it so much that she included actors who play extras in different parts of the Lost story but aren't really linked together in the Lost world.
Comments
I strongly disagree, Regula. Possibly in the first season there may have been some actors used again for different background parts. However, once the show found it’s footing, the producers and writers were very aware about how much Lost was being analyzed. Character connections are definitely a clue and therefor the producers would never put use an actor twice unless that actor was playing the same character.
I’m interested to see what others think.
Well I do agree Bonnie, with that statement that now that the producers found their footing with the show they are more careful and it seems right that the instances with the old man who has the scooter at the airport and who also plays as the priest was probably just an actor playing a background part.
I have checked various sites for the credits of the lost episodes that star “Randy Nations” and they all credit Billy Ray Gallion as playing that same character, but hopefully we will see more of why if any reason Randy Nations has to do with the plot in the Flash Forwards of this new season.
One more thing…
I just want to reiterate that my original reasoning didn’t mean that ALL Secondary Characters werent Important clues to Lost as the poll brings out, but I was just talking about a few instances of some characters while watching the show and then reading the character link on about.com, if Secondary characters werent important there would be no show because they are what makes everything come togther to link main characters.
Yeah, I got that. I just wanted to put all options on the poll in case there was anyone who did think that.