There’s irony in the fact one of the most iconic lines from Lost, the hit TV series about a group of strangers stranded on an island, is: We have to go back.
Airing from 2004 to 2010, Lost was one of the last great commercial TV series, a time when a show was regularly comprised of seasons with 20-plus episodes rolled out over several years. Lost spanned six seasons with a total of 121 episodes, including the mind-melting finale that remains the subject of much debate.
Matthew Fox star of Lost, returns to the small screen in Stan comedy series Caught.Credit: Steven Siewert
But for actor Matthew Fox, whose character Dr. Jack Shephard delivered that line, the idea of going back to that model feels more like going backwards.
“Lost stretched on too long,” says Fox. “I think anyone who loved the show can admit it, towards the end, it felt like, what is this season about?”
Fox is in Sydney to promote a new Stan Original show Caught, a comedy series telling the tale of four Australian soldiers sent on a secret mission to Behati-Prinsloo, a fictional war-torn island nation by the Australian minister of defence.
Captured by freedom fighters who believe they are Americans, the group creates a hostage video that goes viral, giving them celebrity status on social media.
A bunch of Australian soldiers are supposedly taken hostage by freedom fighters on the fictional island of Behati-Prinsloo in the madcap satire Caught.Credit: Lisa Tomasetti
At just six half-hour episodes, Caught is emblematic of the streaming age - short, sharp and self-contained - a world away from the layered labyrinth of the Lost universe.
“The fact you can go out and make a six-episode miniseries now is incredible; in the Lost era, you had to have a premise to sell to networks that could stretch seven seasons and hundreds of episodes, and the quality just diminished,” says the 57-year-old.
Filmed in Sydney and created by Kick Gurry, (who also stars and directs), Caught is an unashamedly Australian comedy designed for a global audience.
“I really wanted to make this in the vein of Australian classics like Priscilla, Crocodile Dundee, and Muriel’s Wedding,” says Gurry.
Matthew Fox and Kick Gurry in Sydney ahead of the premiere of Caught.Credit: Steven Siewert
It doesn’t hurt that the series boasts an all-star cast including Fox, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn playing a fictionalised version of himself. There is also a raft of homegrown talent including Bryan Brown, Ben O’Toole, Lincoln Younes, Alexander England, Fayssal Bazzi, Rebecca Breeds and Bella Heathcote.
Despite being an Australian production, both Fox and Gurry needed permission from SAG to complete promotional duties.
When we speak on Tuesday, the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) and the America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers - which represents the streamers and the studios – have reportedly reached a tentative agreement over a new deal. No details of what the deal contains have yet been released, but if the WGA’s 11,500 members ratify it, the 146-day strike could soon be over.
Loading
According to a hopeful Fox, this could be the beginning of the end, and he believes “SAG will skate right in behind the WGA with a deal.”
Having risen to prominence on syndicated shows including Party of Five and Lost, Fox understands just how important residual payments can be to young actors.
“This notion that you’re going to do a streaming show, work on it for a few years, and get paid your salary and then that show can be streamed and sold off, and you won’t see more dollars for it, even though your image and work is being repeatedly monetised is crazy,” Fox says.
“The business has been through tectonic change, so moving forward under the old pay structure made no sense.”
For all the changes happening in TV, tectonic or otherwise, our appetite for nostalgia remains insatiable.
In the current landscape, everything old is new again, with Frasier, Sex and the City, That 70s Show and How I Met Your Mother all recently receiving the reboot treatment. Given the enduring fandom of Lost, might we find ourselves back on the island?
The cast of Lost. The series ran for six seasons between 2004 and 2010.
“It would not surprise me if there were a conversation about Lost coming back, but it would absolutely surprise me if it happened,” admits Fox.
“Maybe they could do it with a whole new cast, like they did with Party of Five, but I don’t think you’ll see the original Lost cast back together.”
While any plans to “go back” may remain on the shelf, Fox says he has reached a comfortable distance from the show that changed his life and changed TV.
“I look back on it with gratitude; my kids talk about it a lot; my son Byron was two, and my daughter Kyle was 8, and for them, the six years we spent on the island were this dream,” says Fox.
“Most actors would admit that success, fame and notoriety from a big show are only measured in terms of the other creative opportunities that it opens up for you, and that was the catalyst for everything; that’s why I am here today.”
Caught premieres on Stan on Thursday, September 28.
Stan is owned by Nine, the owner of this website.
Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.