In her explosive new tell-all book, Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood, writer and TV critic Maureen Ryan is exposing the good, bad, and ugly behind-the-scenes details about Lost, as well as the show's toxic work culture.
Earlier today, Variety published an exclusive excerpt from the book, which featured an interview with former cast member Harold Perrineau, who detailed the reason behind his firing from the hit series.
Harold starred as Michael Dawson, a father who worked as a construction worker but had dreams of becoming an artist.
Before joining the cast, J.J. Abrams and the rest of the series creators campaigned hard for Harold to join the show. He had already made a pretty big name for himself in Hollywood by starring in projects like The Matrix franchise, The Best Man, Romeo + Juliet, Oz, and more.
Despite working in the industry long enough to know “where the lines were, and what the ceiling was” for Black actors at that time in Hollywood, Harold ultimately decided to take a chance on the ABC series because the creative team told him they wanted to tell a "really equitable" story with all of the characters' storylines.
“We were all really hopeful about it,” Harold said. “It was a bigger try than I had ever seen on broadcast TV.” In early interviews, Harold seemed very enthusiastic about joining the cast. “I was shouting about it from the rooftops. I was such a believer.”
The majority of the cast grew close while filming in Hawaii, but what ultimately put a wedge in their relationships was reportedly the discussion of money. Harold revealed the cast had discussions about asking for equal pay when salary renegotiations with ABC Studios began.
Unfortunately, the united front they initially planned to take crumbled once the cast ended up in a string of compensation tiers — with the highest tiers being occupied by only white actors, according to Harold and a source going by the alias Sloan.
But that wasn't the only difference Harold noticed within the cast. As the first season progressed, he noticed his storyline wasn't doing the same. “It became pretty clear that I was the Black guy. Daniel [Dae Kim] was the Asian guy. And then you had Jack and Kate and Sawyer.”
Maureen spoke to a source who admitted the writing staff was repeatedly told that the "hero characters" were Locke, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. The source also recalled comments like this being thrown around: “Nobody cares about these other characters. Just give them a few scenes on another beach.”
The final straw came while reading the original draft for a Season 2 episode where Harold's TV son Walt (played by Malcolm David Kelley) is kidnapped by a shadowy group called the Others. It was written that Harold would ask about his son's whereabouts only once. That didn't sit right with him.
Harold decided to bring it up to his bosses, which included showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. Harold knew bringing up race would be tricky, because people often become defensive.
Despite the show ultimately changing the script, there were more changes to be made. Just weeks before they began shooting the Season 2 finale, Carlton told Harold his character would not be returning.
“I was fucked up about it. I was like, ‘Oh, I just got fired, I think,’” Harold said. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute, what’s happening?’ Carlton said, ‘Well, you know, you said to us, if we don’t have anything good for you, you want to go.’ I was just asking for equal depth.”
According to Harold, the response from Carlton was, “‘Well, you said you don’t have enough work here, so we’re letting you go.’"
Harold's character Michael was a main character for Seasons 1 and 2. He made a guest appearance in Seasons 4 and 6.
