page_title: Charlotte Lewis (Lost)
section_title: Storyline progression
hierarchical_section_title: Charlotte Lewis (Lost) / Development / Storyline progression
caption_attribution_description: Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof at the Comic-con 2007 LOST Panel.
context_page_description: Dr Charlotte Staples Lewis is a fictional character on the 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, 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. 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.
context_section_description: 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 Dead"—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.
  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.
  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.
caption: Damon Lindelof (left) and Carlton Cuse (right) wrongly blamed Mader for a continuity error.
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