page_title: Ana Lucia Cortez
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Ana Lucia Cortez / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Michelle Rodriguez at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con International in San Diego, California.
context_page_description: Ana Lucia Cortez is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Michelle Rodriguez. Ana Lucia made her first appearance as a guest star in the first season finale, and became part of the main cast for season two. After Oceanic Flight 815 splits in mid-air, the tail section and fuselage crash on opposite sides of a mysterious island. Ana Lucia becomes the leader of the tail section. Flashbacks in her two centric episodes, "Collision" and "Two for the Road", show her life as a police officer before the crash.
  Rodriguez provoked controversy after being stopped by the police for driving under the influence a few weeks before her character was killed, leading to speculation that this was the reason for her death. The producers of Lost stated that Rodriguez was only interested in appearing for one season, so Ana Lucia's death was written in from the beginning. She is shot and killed by Michael Dawson.
context_section_description: In February 2005, Lost producers began looking for a Latina woman in her mid-thirties who would be the leader of the tail section, and a romantic interest for Jack. The agent of Michelle Rodriguez (who was 26 at the time) called the producers, informing them Rodriguez was interested in the role, but only for a year. Rodriguez, producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and Lost creator J. J. Abrams met, and Rodriguez explained she would only be interested in one season because she was a "nomadic spirit", but would like to do one "kickass arc" as she called it. The producers liked her energy, so agreed, with the plan to kill Ana Lucia at the end of the season. Rodriguez felt she had been typecast in tough female roles, so wanted this role to be different. Ana Lucia was planned to start as a tough character, because that is what the audience would expect, then the layers of the character would be gradually peeled back. Rodriguez described Ana Lucia as an "animalistic type creature... tamed by the Island." They reconstructed the character slightly to fit what they liked about Rodriguez, such as making her more "street smart" with a "speak-her-mind quality." Ana Lucia made her first appearance in the penultimate episode of season one, in order to set up her character becoming part of the cast in the next season. All Rodriguez was told about her character was both she and her mother were in the police force. Ana Lucia's style of leadership deliberately contrasts Jack's; Jack is a reluctant leader, whereas Ana Lucia quickly takes charge on her own. In her early appearances, Ana Lucia is shown to be very tough, so the flashbacks in "Collision", where it is revealed  she lost her baby, were used to show a softer side to her.
  When it came time to kill off Ana Lucia, the character of Libby was killed at the same time to create an emotional impact. This happened amidst rumours that the characters were killed off because both actresses in question had been arrested for DUI while filming on location in Oahu. The producers denied that Ana Lucia was killed off because of Rodriguez's behaviour on set, saying although they had no interaction with her, they had been told she had been professional. Rodriguez felt comfortable on the series, but was happy to leave as she felt this would help her grow personally, and become a woman. She had mixed feelings about leaving Hawaii, where Lost is filmed; her allergies were hard to deal with, but she loved the scenery.
caption: Rodriguez was only interested in appearing in Lost for one year.
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