Lost’s ending might have been improved if plans for an active volcano hadn’t been abandoned. As Lost’s finale nears its 10-year anniversary, the episode remains one of the most divisive and widely-discussed TV finales of all time. In the present, Jack Shephard has been inducted as the new Jacob and is charged with protecting the Heart of the Island, the corked energy to which the fate of the entire world is seemingly tied. As part of his plan to escape the Island, the Man in Black puts out the light, triggering a violent earthquake. Ultimately, Jack and Kate defeat the villain, turn on the light and save the Island. Meanwhile, the flash-sideways scenes are revealed as somewhere the Oceanic survivors can reunite after death.
Needless to say, “The End” disappointed a considerable chunk of viewers. Some of the resulting criticisms were purely down to misconceptions surrounding Lost’s ending, such as the survivors being stuck in purgatory, however, other issues were more legitimate, calling out the amount of questions left unaddressed, the mass of new information presented in the final episodes and the overall ambiguity of the on-screen happenings. Another major criticism of Lost’s ending is that the story presented itself as a long, planned-out epic, but was actually made up as it went along.
While the extent to which Lost was planned in advance is very much a two-sided argument, there are undoubtedly certain ideas dropped along the way, and one of these was the introduction of a volcano. There are several instances where Lost teases a volcano on the island, most notably in season 3’s “The Man Behind The Curtain” when a Dharma school teacher reveals exactly that to her students. Additionally, maps seen throughout Lost hint towards volcanoes or craters of some variety. Lost’s showrunners, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, even admitted that a volcano concept was in place for the finale episode, where the dormant natural feature would reactivate, erupt and become the final scene for Jack’s showdown with the Man In Black. The idea was scrapped because Lindelof and Cuse felt budget restrictions would make the scene pale in comparison to the Mustafar battle in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
The presence of Lost’s abandoned volcano was likely replaced, at least in part, by the earthquakes that begin once Desmond unplugs the Heart of the Island. If a reactivated volcano was to be the setting for Jack’s final battle, it would surely be the uncorking that triggers the eruption and drives Lost’s two opposing figures of darkness and light into a fierce confrontation. Even with a limited budget, however, Lost’s finale might’ve been improved by a volcano.
The clifftop setting of the climactic fight doesn’t offer fans much familiarity or significance considering the importance of the scene - it just looks cool. Conversely, the volcano would’ve carried more weight because those seeds had been planted way back in season 3, continuing Lost’s ongoing theme of destiny. Moreover, the volcano would’ve cleared up some of the ambiguity surrounding Lost’s ending. The extent of the earthquakes is never clear and the level of threat to the Island (and beyond) isn’t always visually apparent. On the other hand, everyone knows where they stand with a volcano - lava comes out and destroys all in its path. There’s a much more explicit cause and effect between unplugging the Heart and restarting a dormant volcano than the island suddenly shaking.
Furthermore, the mysterious volcano was originally meant to be where the Man in Black transformed into the smoke monster. This would’ve made a lot more sense than falling into the Heart of the Island, since the fiery, foreboding depths of magma naturally conjure up hellish images of the demonic. The Heart’s light was supposed to be something wholesome and worth protecting - why would it create so foul and evil a monster? Lastly, working the volcano into Lost’s finale would’ve paid off the hints peppered throughout past seasons. Lost is often accused of not completing its story threads and the volcano is a prime example of this in action - why introduce the volcano so explicitly if it’s not going to play a factor? Had the volcano been a feature of Lost’s final episode, more viewers might have felt like the ending was plotted out well ahead of time.
More: Lost: Everything That Changed From The Original Plan
