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Charlotte Lewis (Lost)
Encyclopedia
Dr. Charlotte Staples Lewis is a fictional character
on the American Broadcasting Company
(ABC) television series Lost
, played by Rebecca Mader
. Charlotte is introduced in the second episode of season four
and is a cultural anthropologist on a mission to the island where Oceanic Flight 815
crashed. On the island she is initially held hostage by one of the plane crash survivors, John Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
), but is freed when another person from her team switches place with her. She helps prevent poison gas from being released over the island, and develops a relationship with Daniel Faraday
(Jeremy Davies
). Charlotte dies in Daniel's arms after the frequent time traveling causes her headaches to worsen into something unexplainable.
Although conceived by the show's creators to be American, Charlotte's nationality was changed to British after the producers were impressed with English actress Rebecca Mader's audition. She was supposed to feature in just eight episodes of season four, but after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
the role was expanded, which resulted in her starring in fifteen episodes over the fourth and fifth seasons. Charlotte's introduction, along with the three other new characters from the freighter introduced in season four, was well received, but her storylines in later episodes had a mixed reception, though Mader's acting was praised.
, a young Charlotte Lewis is shown living with her parents as part of a scientific community known as the Dharma Initiative
, on the island where Oceanic Flight 815 would later crash. She is confronted by an adult Daniel Faraday, who attempts to persuade her never to return to the island once she leaves, and is seen evacuating the island during the fifth season finale "The Incident
". Charlotte grows up in Bromsgrove
, unaware of where she was born, and goes on to study at the University of Kent
for her undergraduate degree. She earns a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology
from the University of Oxford
, with her interest in anthropology stemming from a desire to find her birthplace. While visiting an excavation site in the Sahara Desert, Charlotte discovers the remains of a polar bear
, which has a collar bearing a Dharma Initiative logo. Businessman Charles Widmore
(Alan Dale
) selects Charlotte along with Daniel Faraday, Miles Straume
(Ken Leung
), and Frank Lapidus
(Jeff Fahey
), to travel on a freighter to the island where she was born, and find Widmore's rival Ben Linus (Michael Emerson
). She is forced to eject from a helicopter during a lightning storm over the island.
Charlotte arrives on the island on December 23, 2004, where she is held hostage by a number of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, who believe that she is dangerous. She spots a flare that belongs to a member of her team, but none of the survivors wish to investigate. Charlotte becomes impatient and attempts to leave, so Ben shoots her. As she is wearing a bulletproof vest she survives, forcing Ben to reveal that Charlotte's team are looking for him, and not on a rescue mission for the survivors. When the group encounters fellow survivors Kate Austen
(Evangeline Lilly
) and Sayid Jarrah
(Naveen Andrews
) with Miles, they agree for Miles to switch places with Charlotte. After reuniting with Faraday, she tests his memory with playing cards, noting he has made progress when he can remember two out of three cards. That night, Charlotte and Faraday sneak off to the Tempest Dharma Initiative station, where they neutralize a potential source of poison gas. While getting medical supplies at the Staff Dharma Initiative station, Jin-Soo Kwon
(Daniel Dae Kim) notices Charlotte smiling after his wife Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) remarks in Korean
that Charlotte will know Faraday likes her as she is a woman. Jin confronts Charlotte in Korean, saying he will hurt Faraday if she does not promise to take Sun off the island. Later Faraday begins to ferry survivors to the freighter, but Charlotte chooses to remain on the island, as she believes she has found her birthplace. She kisses him, then watches on as he leaves.
After Ben causes the island to vanish, Charlotte, Faraday and the remaining survivors begin to randomly travel through time. Charlotte experiences nosebleeds and headaches, and realizes she is unable to remember her mother's maiden name. During one time jump Charlotte, Faraday and Miles are captured by the Others in 1954, where Faraday proclaims his love for her. After a further time jump, her nosebleed becomes more severe, and she collapses. As she dies, Charlotte relays to Faraday that she now remembers living on the island as a child, and that she recognizes Faraday as the man who told her not to return once she left the island. In season six
the afterlife
experienced by the characters is shown, in which Charlotte is set up as a blind date for James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
). The two spend the night together but when Sawyer catches her going through his belongings he throws her out of the apartment. He comes to her apartment later to apologize but she refuses, telling him he blew his chance. At a concert in the series finale
, she and Faraday are reunited.
After Naomi (Marsha Thomason
) parachuted onto the island in season three, the producers began to plan who else would be on the freighter she came from. They wanted these new characters to be scientists, who would be interested in finding the island for their own personal reasons. They decided to create a character who would be interested in lost civilizations, and named her Charlotte Staples Lewis as a reference to C. S. Lewis
, which Lost producer Damon Lindelof
said was a clue to the direction the show would be taking during season four.
The role was originally offered to Kristen Bell
, however she chose to join Heroes
as Elle Bishop
instead. The producers cast English actress Rebecca Mader
because "she won [them] over with her charm and presence and charisma". During casting, Charlotte was described as "a hot twentysomething ... precocious, loquacious and funny... a very successful academic who also knows how to handle herself in the real world". She also has "lots of repressed and pent-up emotions" beneath the surface. The Lost producers described her as a female version of Indiana Jones
. During auditions, the producers provide fake scenes, to keep new characters' identities a secret. Mader's audition scene was a flashback that she was disappointed was not used for the show. Whilst recording her audition, a producer who was with her noticed that the shows on her résumé were from the British Broadcasting Corporation, so asked her to redo the audition again with a British accent. According to Lindelof, this "opened up another dimension [to the character that the producers] hadn't foreseen", so Charlotte was changed from American to English. Mader was pleased to be able to use her own accent, as many of her previous roles had been American characters.
Mader subsequently began to watch the first three seasons of Lost on DVD and was watching the fourth episode
when she received the news that she had been chosen for the role. She watched all the previous episodes of Lost in the few weeks before she started working on the show. She found it "a really amazing moment" and felt like she had just stepped into the show. When she was cast, Mader was unaware of whether she would be a guest star, or would develop into a regular, and was planned to feature in eight episodes of season four. Mader helped develop Charlotte's outfit and was pleased to be wearing comfortable jeans and boots for the role. She only required a small amount of hair and makeup done, and stated "I just wanted to rough it. I wanted to roll around in the mud with a gun". This was a welcome change to her usual roles which required "full-on hair, makeup and heels".
"—she noted "I feel like I'm almost in the same seat as the audience, like 'What the hell is going on?' and 'What the hell is going to happen next?', it's really exciting actually". She found it freeing to not know her character's history, and felt it made her give a natural performance. Mader felt Charlotte's relationship with Faraday allowed her character to develop and show a softer, more human side, and thought their relationship resonated with the audience as she and Jeremy Davies had good chemistry. Eight episodes of season four were written before production stopped due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
. Once the strike was resolved, a further six episodes were written, two less than originally planned for the season, and as a result Charlotte's role continued into season five
. She enjoyed speaking Korean in "Something Nice Back Home" and wished the full scene had been aired. Mader was excited when she discovered that Charlotte grew up on the island, and hoped to have scenes with Nestor Carbonell
who plays Richard Alpert
, as his character also has a history on the island. However when negotiating contracts in June 2008 she found out that her character would die during season five; Mader summed up Charlotte's season five arc as her demise. Charlotte's death scene was written by Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and was amongst their favourite scenes they wrote during season five. Horowitz loved the emotion in the scene due to the audience only just learning Charlotte's backstory, and Kitsis thought Mader's performance "elevate[d] the words to a whole other level". Mader called it "the best thing [she] ha[d] ever done in [her] entire career" and enjoyed playing a significant role within the episode. Mader returned to the show for two guest appearances in season six to show Charlotte in the afterlife. Mader described Charlotte as "the role of a lifetime", and cited it as a reason that she was cast in better roles following the series' conclusion.
Three episodes after Charlotte's death, Faraday sees a young Charlotte in a scene set in 1974. This created a continuity error as her date of birth was given in "Confirmed Dead" as July 2, 1979. Lost producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse
explained in the "Official Lost Audio Podcast" that Mader changed the age of Charlotte so she would not be portraying someone in their mid-thirties. However Mader retaliated on her Facebook
page that the timeline error was their fault and was unhappy about being blamed for it. Lindelof and Cuse clarified that it was their mistake and apologized for blaming Mader. Fellow Lost producer Greggory Nations
had noticed Mader was eight years younger than the age Charlotte was originally conceived to be, so suggested Charlotte's birthday be changed to the same as Mader's, without realizing the effect this would have on the subsequent season.
(Kiele Sanchez
) and Paulo
(Rodrigo Santoro
), were hated by the fan community. However, according to Jon Lachonis of UGO, Charlotte has been well received by fans, describing her as "one of the most speculated-about characters". Paige Albiniak of the New York Post
praised the cast addition, while IGN
's Chris Carabott described Charlotte, as well as the other new characters from the freighter, as "great" and "exciting". James Poniewozik of Time
liked the introduction of the new characters from the freighter because "Each got just one flashback and a little time on the island, and yet by the end of the episode, [he] felt [he] had a true handle on what they were like as individuals". Jeff Jensen from Entertainment Weekly
liked that the "fascinating" new characters brought "mind-blowing new possibilities, and exciting new theory fodder". Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV
called it the "perfect introduction". Michael Ausiello
of TV Guide
also liked their introduction, and praised the actors' performances.
During the season Charlotte's storylines had mixed reactions. Jensen thought Charlotte and Faraday's mission to the Tempest in "The Other Woman
" felt "forced". Dan Compora from Airlock Alpha
liked Charlotte and Juliet's fight scene in this episode. BuddyTV
's Oscar Dahl thought the whole plot at the Tempest was "filler" and wondered if it had been added just to give Charlotte and Faraday something to do. After Charlotte speaks Korean in "Something Nice Back Home
", James Poniewozik from Time became curious about her past because she is "the member of the four freighties whom we know the least about, and the most secretive and sinister-seeming of the bunch". Chris Carabott was also intrigued after this scene, which he called "one of the more unexpected scenes".
Carabott felt Charlotte's death could have been explored further, but as there was so much happening in the episode not enough time was made for her death. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
noted it was Jeremy Davies portrayal of Faraday's grief that made him care about her death. Cynthia Littleton from Variety
said this was one of the few times Charlotte did not annoy her, as she acts as a translator for Jin, "finally do[ing] something worthwhile". Noel Murray of The A.V. Club
felt distracted by Charlotte in this episode, because her reaction to time travel was different to what was shown in "The Constant
", and found it "incredibly awkward" when Charlotte explained her whole backstory to Faraday. TV Guide' s Mickey O'Connor praised Mader's acting, saying "Well done, Rebecca Mader, who has really done some fine work on Lost".
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(ABC) television series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, played by Rebecca Mader
Rebecca Mader
Rebecca Leigh Mader is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Morgan Gordon on All My Children and Charlotte Lewis on Lost.-Career:...
. Charlotte is introduced in the second episode of season four
Lost (season 4)
The fourth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the American Broadcasting Company Network in the United States, and on CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008 and concluded on May 29, 2008...
and is a cultural anthropologist on a mission to the island where Oceanic Flight 815
Oceanic Airlines
Oceanic Airlines and less frequently Oceanic Airways are fictional airlines used in several films and television programs.The most famous use of this brand is in the TV show Lost, where Oceanic Airlines is featured branded with a highly-stylized logo depicting an Aboriginal dot painting that...
crashed. On the island she is initially held hostage by one of the plane crash survivors, John Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
), but is freed when another person from her team switches place with her. She helps prevent poison gas from being released over the island, and develops a relationship with Daniel Faraday
Daniel Faraday
Dr. Daniel Faraday, often referred to as Dan or simply by his surname, Faraday, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jeremy Davies. Faraday is introduced in the season four premiere as a physicist, suffering from memory loss, and is part of the team aboard the ...
(Jeremy Davies
Jeremy Davies (actor)
Jeremy Davies is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying the interpreter Cpl. Timothy E. Upham in the film Saving Private Ryan and the physicist Daniel Faraday on the television series Lost. He most recently appeared in the FX series, Justified, as Dickie Bennett.-Early...
). Charlotte dies in Daniel's arms after the frequent time traveling causes her headaches to worsen into something unexplainable.
Although conceived by the show's creators to be American, Charlotte's nationality was changed to British after the producers were impressed with English actress Rebecca Mader's audition. She was supposed to feature in just eight episodes of season four, but after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
the role was expanded, which resulted in her starring in fifteen episodes over the fourth and fifth seasons. Charlotte's introduction, along with the three other new characters from the freighter introduced in season four, was well received, but her storylines in later episodes had a mixed reception, though Mader's acting was praised.
Arc
During season fiveLost (season 5)
The fifth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the ABC network in the United States and on A in Canada in January 2009, and concluded with a two-hour season finale on May 13, 2009...
, a young Charlotte Lewis is shown living with her parents as part of a scientific community known as the Dharma Initiative
DHARMA Initiative
The Dharma Initiative, also written DHARMA , was a fictional research project featured in the television series Lost. It was introduced in the second season episode "Orientation". In 2008, the Dharma Initiative website was launched. Dharma's interests were directly connected with fringe science...
, on the island where Oceanic Flight 815 would later crash. She is confronted by an adult Daniel Faraday, who attempts to persuade her never to return to the island once she leaves, and is seen evacuating the island during the fifth season finale "The Incident
The Incident (Lost)
"The Incident" is the season finale of the fifth season of ABC's Lost, consisting of its 16th and 17th episodes. Both parts of "The Incident", the show's 102nd and 103rd episodes overall, aired on May 13, 2009 on ABC in the United States. The episode was written by executive producers/showrunners...
". Charlotte grows up in Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England. The town is about north east of Worcester and south west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 with a small ethnic minority and is in Bromsgrove District.- History :Bromsgrove is first documented in the early 9th century...
, unaware of where she was born, and goes on to study at the University of Kent
University of Kent
The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
for her undergraduate degree. She earns a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
from the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, with her interest in anthropology stemming from a desire to find her birthplace. While visiting an excavation site in the Sahara Desert, Charlotte discovers the remains of a polar bear
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
, which has a collar bearing a Dharma Initiative logo. Businessman Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific. He is primarily portrayed as an older man by Alan Dale; Tom Connolly and David S...
(Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
) selects Charlotte along with Daniel Faraday, Miles Straume
Miles Straume
Miles Straume is a fictional character played by Ken Leung on the ABC television series Lost. Miles is introduced early in the fourth season as a hotheaded and sarcastic medium as a crew member aboard the freighter called the Kahana that is offshore the island where most of Lost takes place...
(Ken Leung
Ken Leung
Kenneth "Ken" Leung is an American actor best known for his role as Miles Straume in the ABC television series Lost and roles in such films as Shanghai Kiss, Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Saw.-Early life:...
), and Frank Lapidus
Frank Lapidus
Frank J. Lapidus is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jeff Fahey. Frank is introduced in the second episode of season four as a pilot hired on a mission to the island where Oceanic Flight 815 crashed. He aids the survivors of the crash against mercenary Martin Keamy ...
(Jeff Fahey
Jeff Fahey
Jeffrey David "Jeff" Fahey is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series Lost and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on The Marshal.-Early life:...
), to travel on a freighter to the island where she was born, and find Widmore's rival Ben Linus (Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
). She is forced to eject from a helicopter during a lightning storm over the island.
Charlotte arrives on the island on December 23, 2004, where she is held hostage by a number of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, who believe that she is dangerous. She spots a flare that belongs to a member of her team, but none of the survivors wish to investigate. Charlotte becomes impatient and attempts to leave, so Ben shoots her. As she is wearing a bulletproof vest she survives, forcing Ben to reveal that Charlotte's team are looking for him, and not on a rescue mission for the survivors. When the group encounters fellow survivors Kate Austen
Kate Austen
Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto female lead...
(Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.-Early life:...
) and Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Hassan Jarrah is a character from the ABC show Lost portrayed by Naveen Andrews.-Season 1:Sayid fixes the transceiver recovered from the cockpit, and leads a group into the jungle in order to send out a distress signal. Instead, he picks up a looping message . He tries to locate the...
(Naveen Andrews
Naveen Andrews
Naveen William Sidney Andrews is a British American actor. He is best known for portraying Kip in the movie The English Patient and Sayid Jarrah on the American television series Lost.-Early life:...
) with Miles, they agree for Miles to switch places with Charlotte. After reuniting with Faraday, she tests his memory with playing cards, noting he has made progress when he can remember two out of three cards. That night, Charlotte and Faraday sneak off to the Tempest Dharma Initiative station, where they neutralize a potential source of poison gas. While getting medical supplies at the Staff Dharma Initiative station, Jin-Soo Kwon
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.- Prior to the crash :...
(Daniel Dae Kim) notices Charlotte smiling after his wife Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) remarks in Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
that Charlotte will know Faraday likes her as she is a woman. Jin confronts Charlotte in Korean, saying he will hurt Faraday if she does not promise to take Sun off the island. Later Faraday begins to ferry survivors to the freighter, but Charlotte chooses to remain on the island, as she believes she has found her birthplace. She kisses him, then watches on as he leaves.
After Ben causes the island to vanish, Charlotte, Faraday and the remaining survivors begin to randomly travel through time. Charlotte experiences nosebleeds and headaches, and realizes she is unable to remember her mother's maiden name. During one time jump Charlotte, Faraday and Miles are captured by the Others in 1954, where Faraday proclaims his love for her. After a further time jump, her nosebleed becomes more severe, and she collapses. As she dies, Charlotte relays to Faraday that she now remembers living on the island as a child, and that she recognizes Faraday as the man who told her not to return once she left the island. In season six
Lost (season 6)
The sixth and final season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing in the United States and Canada on February 2, 2010. The sixth-season premiere was the first to climb in the ratings year-over-year since the second season, drawing 12.1 million viewers. The season...
the afterlife
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
experienced by the characters is shown, in which Charlotte is set up as a blind date for James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
). The two spend the night together but when Sawyer catches her going through his belongings he throws her out of the apartment. He comes to her apartment later to apologize but she refuses, telling him he blew his chance. At a concert in the series finale
The End (Lost)
"The End" is the series finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 17th and 18th episodes of season 6. It is also the 120th and 121st episodes overall...
, she and Faraday are reunited.
Creation and casting
Marsha Thomason
Marsha Lisa Thomason is an English actress, who is known in the United States for playing Nessa Holt in the first two seasons of the NBC series Las Vegas, for her recurring role on ABC's Lost as Naomi Dorrit, and for playing FBI agent Diana Berrigan on USA Network's White Collar.-Early...
) parachuted onto the island in season three, the producers began to plan who else would be on the freighter she came from. They wanted these new characters to be scientists, who would be interested in finding the island for their own personal reasons. They decided to create a character who would be interested in lost civilizations, and named her Charlotte Staples Lewis as a reference to C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
, which Lost producer Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
said was a clue to the direction the show would be taking during season four.
The role was originally offered to Kristen Bell
Kristen Bell
Kristen Anne Bell is an American actress. Although her first film role was an uncredited appearance in Polish Wedding, Bell previously acted in stage and musical productions. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer...
, however she chose to join Heroes
Heroes (TV series)
Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring that appeared on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006 through February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the...
as Elle Bishop
Elle Bishop
Eleanor Zoe Bishop, mostly known as Elle, is a fictional character on the NBC series Heroes. She is portrayed by Kristen Bell. Elle appeared as one of the new characters introduced in Season Two and according to contract, would continue on the series for at least 13 episodes into Season Three.Elle...
instead. The producers cast English actress Rebecca Mader
Rebecca Mader
Rebecca Leigh Mader is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Morgan Gordon on All My Children and Charlotte Lewis on Lost.-Career:...
because "she won [them] over with her charm and presence and charisma". During casting, Charlotte was described as "a hot twentysomething ... precocious, loquacious and funny... a very successful academic who also knows how to handle herself in the real world". She also has "lots of repressed and pent-up emotions" beneath the surface. The Lost producers described her as a female version of Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
. During auditions, the producers provide fake scenes, to keep new characters' identities a secret. Mader's audition scene was a flashback that she was disappointed was not used for the show. Whilst recording her audition, a producer who was with her noticed that the shows on her résumé were from the British Broadcasting Corporation, so asked her to redo the audition again with a British accent. According to Lindelof, this "opened up another dimension [to the character that the producers] hadn't foreseen", so Charlotte was changed from American to English. Mader was pleased to be able to use her own accent, as many of her previous roles had been American characters.
Mader subsequently began to watch the first three seasons of Lost on DVD and was watching the fourth episode
Walkabout (Lost)
"Walkabout" is the fourth episode of the first season of Lost. The episode was directed by Jack Bender and written by David Fury. It first aired on October 13, 2004, on ABC. In the episode, flashbacks reveal John Locke's plans to get to Australia and participate in a walkabout tour...
when she received the news that she had been chosen for the role. She watched all the previous episodes of Lost in the few weeks before she started working on the show. She found it "a really amazing moment" and felt like she had just stepped into the show. When she was cast, Mader was unaware of whether she would be a guest star, or would develop into a regular, and was planned to feature in eight episodes of season four. Mader helped develop Charlotte's outfit and was pleased to be wearing comfortable jeans and boots for the role. She only required a small amount of hair and makeup done, and stated "I just wanted to rough it. I wanted to roll around in the mud with a gun". This was a welcome change to her usual roles which required "full-on hair, makeup and heels".
Storyline progression
Charlotte's discovery of a polar bear with a Dharma Initiative collar caused fan speculation about her connection with the island. Mader herself was unaware of Charlotte's backstory beyond the flashback in "Confirmed DeadConfirmed Dead
"Confirmed Dead" is the second episode of the fourth season and 74th episode overall of the ABC's serial drama television series Lost. It was aired on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada on February 7, 2008. The episode was written by co-executive producer Drew Goddard and co-producer...
"—she noted "I feel like I'm almost in the same seat as the audience, like 'What the hell is going on?' and 'What the hell is going to happen next?', it's really exciting actually". She found it freeing to not know her character's history, and felt it made her give a natural performance. Mader felt Charlotte's relationship with Faraday allowed her character to develop and show a softer, more human side, and thought their relationship resonated with the audience as she and Jeremy Davies had good chemistry. Eight episodes of season four were written before production stopped due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
. Once the strike was resolved, a further six episodes were written, two less than originally planned for the season, and as a result Charlotte's role continued into season five
Lost (season 5)
The fifth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the ABC network in the United States and on A in Canada in January 2009, and concluded with a two-hour season finale on May 13, 2009...
. She enjoyed speaking Korean in "Something Nice Back Home" and wished the full scene had been aired. Mader was excited when she discovered that Charlotte grew up on the island, and hoped to have scenes with Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Gastón Carbonell is an American actor, known for portraying Richard Alpert in ABC's drama Lost and Mayor Anthony Garcia in the film The Dark Knight...
who plays Richard Alpert
Richard Alpert (Lost)
Ricardo "Richard" Alpert is a fictional character played by Nestor Carbonell in the American ABC television series Lost. Alpert is introduced in a flashback of the character Juliet Burke , where he claims to be a doctor for a bioscience company called Mittelos Bioscience; he is later revealed to...
, as his character also has a history on the island. However when negotiating contracts in June 2008 she found out that her character would die during season five; Mader summed up Charlotte's season five arc as her demise. Charlotte's death scene was written by Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and was amongst their favourite scenes they wrote during season five. Horowitz loved the emotion in the scene due to the audience only just learning Charlotte's backstory, and Kitsis thought Mader's performance "elevate[d] the words to a whole other level". Mader called it "the best thing [she] ha[d] ever done in [her] entire career" and enjoyed playing a significant role within the episode. Mader returned to the show for two guest appearances in season six to show Charlotte in the afterlife. Mader described Charlotte as "the role of a lifetime", and cited it as a reason that she was cast in better roles following the series' conclusion.
Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse is an AmericanEmmy Award winning screenwriter and producer, most famous as executive producer andscreenwriter for the American television series Lost for...
explained in the "Official Lost Audio Podcast" that Mader changed the age of Charlotte so she would not be portraying someone in their mid-thirties. However Mader retaliated on her Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page that the timeline error was their fault and was unhappy about being blamed for it. Lindelof and Cuse clarified that it was their mistake and apologized for blaming Mader. Fellow Lost producer Greggory Nations
Greggory Nations
Greggory "Gregg" Nations is an American television writer and script coordinator. He wrote several episodes for The District and Nash Bridges with Carlton Cuse. Nations joined the production crew of Lost, and created the show's Bible after re-reading the scripts and creating a timeline...
had noticed Mader was eight years younger than the age Charlotte was originally conceived to be, so suggested Charlotte's birthday be changed to the same as Mader's, without realizing the effect this would have on the subsequent season.
Reception
The producers of Lost were nervous about how well the new characters would be received after two characters introduced in season three, NikkiNikki and Paulo
Nikki Fernandez and Paulo are fictional characters on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific...
(Kiele Sanchez
Kiele Sanchez
Kiele Michelle Sanchez is an American actress who stars in the A&E Network drama The Glades. Previously she starred as the second-eldest Sorelli sister, Anne, a therapist in her mid-twenties, in The WB's comedic ensemble drama, Related. She was cast as a co-star in the third season of the ABC...
) and Paulo
Nikki and Paulo
Nikki Fernandez and Paulo are fictional characters on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific...
(Rodrigo Santoro
Rodrigo Santoro
Rodrigo Junqueira dos Reis Santoro is a Brazilian actor.-Life and career:Santoro was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. He is of half Brazilian and half Italian descent. In 1993, as Santoro was studying Journalism at PUC-Rio, he entered the Actor's Workshop of Rede Globo...
), were hated by the fan community. However, according to Jon Lachonis of UGO, Charlotte has been well received by fans, describing her as "one of the most speculated-about characters". Paige Albiniak of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
praised the cast addition, while IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Chris Carabott described Charlotte, as well as the other new characters from the freighter, as "great" and "exciting". James Poniewozik of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
liked the introduction of the new characters from the freighter because "Each got just one flashback and a little time on the island, and yet by the end of the episode, [he] felt [he] had a true handle on what they were like as individuals". Jeff Jensen from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
liked that the "fascinating" new characters brought "mind-blowing new possibilities, and exciting new theory fodder". Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
called it the "perfect introduction". Michael Ausiello
Michael Ausiello
Michael Ausiello is an American television industry journalist and actor. He was a Senior Writer at TV Guide and its companion website, TVGuide.com. On May 28, 2008, Ausiello left TV Guide for Entertainment Weekly and posted his first blog for Entertainment Weekly on July 2, 2008...
of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
also liked their introduction, and praised the actors' performances.
During the season Charlotte's storylines had mixed reactions. Jensen thought Charlotte and Faraday's mission to the Tempest in "The Other Woman
The Other Woman
The Other Woman , is a 1995 made-for-TV movie that follows dying mother Tessa Bryan's attempts to gain the acceptance of her two young daughters Lara and Kate of her husband Michael's second wife Carolyn. To do so, she takes them on a trip across the country to their father's ranch...
" felt "forced". Dan Compora from Airlock Alpha
Airlock Alpha
Airlock Alpha, formerly SyFy Portal, is an entertainment news website focusing on science-fiction, fantasy and comic book television series and films.-History:...
liked Charlotte and Juliet's fight scene in this episode. BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
's Oscar Dahl thought the whole plot at the Tempest was "filler" and wondered if it had been added just to give Charlotte and Faraday something to do. After Charlotte speaks Korean in "Something Nice Back Home
Something Nice Back Home
"Something Nice Back Home" is the tenth episode of the American Broadcasting Company's fourth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 82nd episode overall. It was aired on May 1, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada...
", James Poniewozik from Time became curious about her past because she is "the member of the four freighties whom we know the least about, and the most secretive and sinister-seeming of the bunch". Chris Carabott was also intrigued after this scene, which he called "one of the more unexpected scenes".
Carabott felt Charlotte's death could have been explored further, but as there was so much happening in the episode not enough time was made for her death. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
noted it was Jeremy Davies portrayal of Faraday's grief that made him care about her death. Cynthia Littleton from Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
said this was one of the few times Charlotte did not annoy her, as she acts as a translator for Jin, "finally do[ing] something worthwhile". Noel Murray of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
felt distracted by Charlotte in this episode, because her reaction to time travel was different to what was shown in "The Constant
The Constant
"The Constant" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost, and the 77th episode overall. It was aired on February 28, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada...
", and found it "incredibly awkward" when Charlotte explained her whole backstory to Faraday. TV Guide