The first season of the television series '' Lost'' commenced airing in the United States and Canada on September 22, 2004, concluded on May 25, 2005, and contained 25 episodes. It introduces the 48 survivors of a plane that broke apart in mid-air, scattering them on a remote island in the South Pacific. Forced to work together to survive, they come to realize it is no ordinary island. The first season aired Wednesdays at 8:00 pm in the United States. In addition to the 25 regular episodes, a special, " Lost: The Journey", was aired on April 27, 2005, between the 20th and 21st episodes of the season. The season was released on DVD as a seven-disc boxed set under the title of ''Lost: The Complete First Season'' on September 6, 2005, by

Buena Vista Home Entertainment Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough, and all of Atlantic County, is part of South Jersey and the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan statistical area, which in turn is included in the Ph ...

Crew

The season was produced by Touchstone Television (now

ABC Studios ABC Signature was a production arm of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment and division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio's ...

Bad Robot Bad Robot is an American film and television production company founded on May 27, 1999, and led by Katie McGrath and J. J. Abrams as Co-CEO. Under its Bad Robot Productions division, the company is responsible for the television series '' Alia ...

and Grass Skirt Productions and was aired on the ABC Network in the U.S. The executive producers were co-creator J. J. Abrams, co-creator

Damon Lindelof Damon Laurence Lindelof (born April 24, 1973) is an American screenwriter, comic book writer, and producer. Among his accolades, he received three Primetime Emmy Awards, from twelve nominations. In 2010, ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine named ...

Bryan Burk Bryan Burk (born December 30, 1968) is an American film and television producer. He is mostly known for producing movies in collaboration with J. J. Abrams, including the ''Star Trek'' reboot series, the ''Mission: Impossible'' films '' Gh ...

Jack Bender Jack Bender (born September 25, 1949) is an American television and film director, television producer and actor best known for his work as a director on '' Lost'', ''The Sopranos'', ''Game of Thrones'', and '' From''. Biography Bender grew up ...

and

Carlton Cuse Arthur Carlton Cuse (born March 22, 1959) is an American screenwriter, showrunner, producer, and director, best known for the American television series '' Lost'', for which he made the ''Time'' list of the 100 most influential people in the wo ...

with

Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander is an American television writer and producer. He was a co-executive producer and writer on ''Heroes''. Originally from Santa Barbara, California, Alexander attended Sarah Lawrence College and AFI Conservatory. At Sarah Lawrence, ...

and

Jeff Pinkner Jeff Pinkner (born November 16, 1964) is an American television and movie writer and producer. Early life and education Born to a Jewish family,David Fury David Fury is an American television writer, producer, actor and director. Career He is well known for his work on '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', '' Angel'', '' Lost'', '' 24'', '' Fringe,'' '' Tyrant'' and '' The Tick''. Fury was a co-exe ...

, supervising producer

Javier Grillo-Marxuach Javier "Javi" Grillo-Marxuach (; born October 28, 1969, in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a television screenwriter and producer, and podcaster, known for his work as writer and producer on the first two seasons of the ABC television series '' Lost'' ...

, producer Leonard Dick, producers

Edward Kitsis Edward Lawrence Kitsis (born February 4, 1971) is an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his work with his writing partner Adam Horowitz on the popular ABC drama series '' Lost'' and ''Once Upon a Time''. Early life a ...

Adam Horowitz Adam Horowitz (born December 4, 1971) is an American screenwriter and producer. He is best known for co-creating the ABC fairy tale drama series ''Once Upon a Time'' with his writing partner, Edward Kitsis. Early life Horowitz was born in Ne ...

, co-producer Jennifer M. Johnson and story editor

Paul Dini Paul McClaran Dini (; born August 7, 1957) is an American writer, animator, and comic book artist. He has served as a producer and writer for several Warner Bros. Animation/DC Comics animated series, most notably ''Batman: The Animated Series' ...

. Some of the first season's episodes were written or co-written by writers on a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

basis. The regular directors throughout the season were J. J. Abrams, Jack Bender, Stephen Williams,

Tucker Gates Tucker Gates is an American television director and producer. He has directed several episodes of the ABC series '' Alias'' and '' Lost''. He has also directed episodes of '' Bates Motel'', ''Weeds'', '' Carnivàle'', '' Point Pleasant'', '' Hu ...

Greg Yaitanes Gregory Charles Yaitanes (born June 18, 1970) is an American television and film director. He is also an angel investor in Twitter. Early life Yaitanes grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts. At the age of 18, Yaitanes moved to Los Angeles and at ...

and

Kevin Hooks Kevin Hooks (born September 19, 1958) is an American actor, and a television and film director; he is notable for his roles in '' Aaron Loves Angela'' and '' Sounder'', but may be best known as Morris Thorpe from TV's '' The White Shadow''. Earl ...

. Its incidental music was composed by

Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino ( , ; born October 10, 1967) is an American film, television, and video game score composer. He has received many accolades for his work, including an Academy Award for ''Up (2009 film), Up'' (2009), an Emmy Award, Emmy for Lo ...

. Abrams, Lindelof and Cuse served as the season's

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

Cast

Main

The initial season had fourteen major roles with star billing. *

Naveen Andrews Naveen William Sidney Andrews (born 17 January 1969) is a British-American actor. He is best known for his role as Sayid Jarrah in the television series '' Lost'' (2004–2010), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a Primet ...

Sayid Jarrah Sayid Hassan Jarrah (, ''Sa‘īd Ḥassān Jarrāḥ'') is a fictional character from the ABC show '' Lost'' portrayed by Naveen Andrews. Appearances Prior to the crash Sayid originally served as a communications officer in Iraq's Special Re ...

, a former

Iraqi Republican Guard The Iraqi Republican Guard () was a branch of the Iraqi military from 1969 to 2003, which existed primarily during the presidency of Saddam Hussein. Initially a praetorian guard unit tasked with the sole purpose to protect the president of ...

. *

Emilie de Ravin Emilie de Ravin (; born 27 December 1981) is an Australian actress. She first gained recognition for playing Tess Harding on The WB's science fiction television series ''Roswell (TV series), Roswell'' (2000–2002). She went on to portray Clai ...

Claire Littleton Claire Littleton is a fictional character played by Emilie de Ravin on the ABC drama television series '' Lost'', which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Claire is introduced in the pilot episode as a p ...

, a pregnant Australian. Until later in the season, de Ravin is only credited for the episodes in which she appears. *

Matthew Fox Matthew Chandler Fox (born July 14, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Charlie Salinger on '' Party of Five'' (1994–2000) and Jack Shephard on the drama series '' Lost'' (2004–2010), the latter of which earned him G ...

Jack Shephard Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and the protagonist of the ABC television series '' Lost'', played by Matthew Fox. ''Lost'' follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to sur ...

, a troubled surgeon, leader of the group, and protagonist. *

Jorge Garcia Jorge Garcia (born April 28, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show '' Becker'', but subsequently became best known for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurl ...

Hugo "Hurley" Reyes Hugo "Hurley" Reyes is a fictional character on the ABC television series '' Lost'', played by Jorge Garcia. For most of the show's run, Hurley served as the show's comic relief, but occasionally, and most notably in the final season, he was shown ...

, an unlucky

lottery A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...

winner. *

Maggie Grace Margaret Grace Denig (born September 21, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for playing Shannon Rutherford on the ABC television series '' Lost'' (2004–2006; 2010), Kim Mills in the '' Taken'' trilogy (2008–2014), Irina in ''The T ...

as Shannon Rutherford, a former dance teacher and Boone's stepsister. *

Josh Holloway Joshua Lee Holloway (born July 20, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James "Sawyer" Ford on the ABC television show '' Lost'' (2004–2010) as Will Bowman on the USA Network science fiction drama ''Colony'' (2016� ...

James "Sawyer" Ford James Ford, better known by the alias "Sawyer" () and later as "Jim LaFleur", is a fictional character on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television series ''Lost (2004 TV series), Lost'', portrayed by Josh Holloway. Created by Jeffrey Li ...

, a con man. *

Malcolm David Kelley Malcolm David Kelley (born May 12, 1992), sometimes credited as just Malcolm Kelley, is an American actor and singer best known for portraying the character Walt Lloyd on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC series ''Lost (2004 TV series), Lo ...

Walt Lloyd Walter "Walt" Lloyd is a fictional character portrayed by Malcolm David Kelley in the American ABC television series '' Lost''. The series follows the lives of over forty survivors of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. Walt is introduced in the p ...

, Michael's young son. *

Daniel Dae Kim Daniel Dae Kim (born August 4, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his many roles in network television and theater. In 2025, ''Time'' magazine listed him as one of the world's 100 most influential people. On television, he portray ...

Jin-Soo Kwon Jin-Soo Kwon, better known as "Jin," is a fictional character on the ABC television series '' Lost'' played by Daniel Dae Kim. Character biography Prior to the crash Jin-Soo Kwon was born on 27 November 1974 in Namhae, South Korea, to ...

, Sun-Hwa Kwon's husband. *

Yunjin Kim Yunjin Kim (; born November 7, 1973) is a South Korean and American actress. She is best known for her role as North Korean spy Bang-Hee in the South Korean film '' Shiri'' (1999) and Sun-Hwa Kwon on the American television series '' Lost'' (200 ...

Sun-Hwa Kwon Sun-Hwa Kwon, better known simply as "Sun", is a fictional character on the ABC television series '' Lost'' played by Yunjin Kim. Sun-Hwa Kwon is the daughter of a powerful and incredibly wealthy Korean businessman and mobster. Character biogr ...

, the daughter of a powerful Korean businessman and mobster. *

Evangeline Lilly Nicole Evangeline Lilly (born August 3, 1979) is a Canadian former actress and author. She gained popularity for her first leading role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama series '' Lost'' (2004–2010), which garnered her six nominations for the ...

Kate Austen Katherine Anne Austen is a fictional character on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television series ''Lost (2004 TV series), Lost'', played by Canadians, Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. Character biography Prior to the crash Born in 19 ...

, a fugitive. *

Dominic Monaghan Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan (born 8 December 1976) is a British-Irish actor. He is best known for playing Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck in Peter Jackson's film trilogy ''The Lord of the Rings'' (2001–2003), and Charlie Pace on the ...

Charlie Pace Charlie Hieronymous Pace is a fictional character on ABC's '' Lost'', a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island. Played by Dominic Monaghan, Charlie was a regular character in the first t ...

, an ex-rock star drug addict. *

Terry O'Quinn Terrance Quinn (born July 15, 1952), known professionally as Terry O'Quinn, is an American actor. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for his performance as John Locke on the TV series '' Lost'' (2004–2010). In film, he also played the title role i ...

as the mysterious

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...

. *

Harold Perrineau Harold Perrineau (born August 7, 1963) is an American actor. His breakout role was in the independent film ''Smoke'' (1995), for which he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. He went on to appear as Mercutio ...

as Michael Dawson, a construction worker and estranged father of Walt. *

Ian Somerhalder Ian Joseph Somerhalder ( ; born December 8, 1978) is an American former actor and current business owner. He is known for playing Boone Carlyle in American Broadcasting Company, ABC's science fiction adventure drama television series ''Lost (2 ...

Boone Carlyle Boone Carlyle is a fictional character who was played by Ian Somerhalder on the ABC drama television series '' Lost'', which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the south Pacific. Boone is introduced in the pilot episo ...

, chief operating officer of his mother's wedding business and step brother of Shannon.

Recurring

* L. Scott Caldwell as

Rose Henderson Rose Henderson (14 December 1871 – 30 January 1937) was a Canadian political activist and social reformer. Personal life Rose Mary Louise Wills was born on 14 December 1871 in Dublin, Ireland to middle-class parents of English ancestry. ...

Mira Furlan Mira Furlan (7 September 1955 – 20 January 2021) was a Croatian-American actress and singer. Internationally, she was best known for her roles as the Minbari Ambassador Delenn in the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5'' (1993–1998 ...

as Danielle Rousseau *

Kimberley Joseph Kimberley Joseph (born August 30, 1973) is a Canadian Australian actress who is based in the United States. Joseph was born in Canada, brought up on the Gold Coast in Australia and educated in Switzerland. After returning to Australia, she beg ...

Cindy Cindy may refer to: People *Cindy (given name), a list of people named Cindy, Cindi, Cyndi or Cyndy *Tugiyati Cindy (born 1985), Indonesian footballer *Cindy (singer), Japanese singer Music * ''Cindy'' (musical), an off-Broadway production in 1 ...

* Fredric Lane as Edward Mars *

William Mapother William Reibert Mapother Jr. (; born April 17, 1965) is an American actor, known for his role as Ethan Rom on the television series ''Lost (2004 TV series), Lost'' and starring in the film ''In the Bedroom''. He is also known for the film ''Anothe ...

Ethan Rom Ethan Rom is a fictional character portrayed by William Mapother on the ABC television show '' Lost''. Introduced in the first season as the main antagonist, Ethan is the surgeon for the antagonistic and mysterious group known as the " Others". ...

Daniel Roebuck Daniel James Roebuck (born March 4, 1963) is an American actor and writer. In film, he is known for his roles as Deputy Marshal Robert Biggs in ''The Fugitive'' (1993) and its spin-off ''U.S. Marshals'' (1998), as well as Mr. Banks in '' Agent ...

Leslie Arzt The characters from the America Drama (film and television), drama Television show, television series ''Lost (2004 TV series), Lost'' were created by Damon Lindelof and J. J. Abrams. The series follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a myste ...

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional Coach (association football), football coach and former Association football, player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, the En ...

Christian Shephard Dr. Christian Shephard is a fictional character on the ABC television series '' Lost'' played by John Terry. He is the father of lead characters Jack Shephard ( Matthew Fox), who becomes the de facto leader of the survivors of Oceanic 815 aft ...

Guest

Michelle Rodriguez Mayte Michelle Rodríguez (born July 12, 1978) is an American actress. She began her career in 2000, playing a troubled boxer in the independent sports drama film ''Girlfight'' (2000), where she won the Independent Spirit Awards, Independent S ...

Ana Lucia Cortez Ana Lucia Cortez is a fictional character on the ABC television series '' Lost'', played by Michelle Rodriguez. Ana Lucia made her first appearance as a guest star in the first season finale, and became part of the main cast for season two. A ...

. She makes her first appearance this season, and she becomes a series regular in the second season.

Reception

On the review aggregator website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the first season scored 87 out of 100, based on 26 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim". On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the season has an approval rating of 94% with an average score of 8.9/10 based on 46 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Unpredictable and addictive, ''Lost'' is a new kind of TV mystery that grips as often as it guffaws." The pilot episode garnered 18.6 million viewers, winning the 9:00 pm (Eastern) timeslot, and giving ABC its strongest ratings since 2000 when ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (British game show), British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, cu ...

'' initially aired—beaten only the following month by the premiere of ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

''. Based on its strong opening,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

dubbed it a "hit drama" noting that "the show appeared to have benefited from an all-out marketing blitz that included radio spots, special screenings and ABC's first billboard advertising campaign in five years." After four episodes aired, ABC announced ''Lost'' had been picked up for a full season order. ''Lost''s first season averaged about 17.6 million American viewers. The first season was nominated for twelve

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

s. They won six: Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series ( J. J. Abrams for "Pilot"), Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) (

), Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series.

and

received nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. J. J. Abrams,

and

Jeffrey Lieber Jeffrey Michael Lieber is an American screenwriter for both television and film. He is credited as a co-creator of the television series '' Lost''. In addition to writing for television and film, Lieber blogged (through 2016) at the website dai ...

were nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for "Pilot", with

David Fury David Fury is an American television writer, producer, actor and director. Career He is well known for his work on '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', '' Angel'', '' Lost'', '' 24'', '' Fringe,'' '' Tyrant'' and '' The Tick''. Fury was a co-exe ...

receiving a nomination in the same category for the episode "Walkabout". The series also received nominations for Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Series, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series. The show was also nominated for the

Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama The Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series– Drama is one of the annual Golden Globe Awards, given to the best drama television series. Documentary series and mini-series are also eligible for this award. From 1962 to 1968, the category wa ...

Episodes

The number in the "No. in series" column refers to the episode's number within the overall series, whereas the number in the "No. in season" column refers to the episode's number within this particular season. "Featured character(s)" refers to the character(s) whose back story is featured in the episode's flashbacks. "U.S. viewers (million)" refers to the number of viewers in the United States in millions who watched the episode as it was aired.

Home media release

''Lost: The Complete First Season'' was released as a

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

seven-disc Region 1 DVD

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

on September 6, 2005, two weeks before the premiere of the second season. It was distributed by

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) is the home entertainment distribution arm of the Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, a ...

. In addition to all the episodes that had aired, it included several DVD extras such as episode commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage and making-of features as well as deleted scenes, deleted flashback scenarios and a

blooper A blooper, or gag reel, is short clip from a film, television program or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or ...

reel. The season was subsequently released on

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

on June 16, 2009. The same set was released on November 30, 2005, in Region 4, and on January 16, 2006, in the United Kingdom. For the region 2 release, the season was split into two releases, with part 1 (episodes 1–12) released on October 31, 2005, and part 2 (episodes 13–25) and the complete season set on January 16, 2006.

References

External links

* *List o
''Lost'' season 1 episodes
at

Lostpedia Lostpedia is a wiki-powered online encyclopedia of information regarding the American television drama '' Lost''. Launched on September 22, 2005, by Kevin Croy, the site uses MediaWiki software to maintain a user-created database of information. ...

{{Featured list Lost (2004 TV series) 2004 American television seasons 2005 American television seasons