Maggie Grace On Her ‘Lost’ Character’s Exit: “Still The Worst Heartbreak Of My Career”

Maggie Grace, who played Shannon Rutherford on hit ABC drama Lost, has recalled her relatively short stint on the series, saying she had hoped there would be more story for her character. The actress told The Independent in an interview published today that Shannon being killed off in episode six of the second season is “still the worst heartbreak of my career. I was devastated!”

Shannon began the series as a spoiled and unsympathetic character, but ultimately softened as her relationship with Sayid (Naveen Andrews) blossomed. As with several former series regulars, Grace’s Shannon returned for the 2010 Lost finale.

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Grace elaborated that she “thought they were gonna take (Shannon) a little further,” but said she understood the reasoning, telling The Independent that the character “was sort of a caricature of white privilege before that was a phrase, you know? And maybe I was just too good at my assigned job of being incredibly annoying.”

The actress said she had thought Shannon might “at the last moment, redeem herself and be incredibly self-sacrificial in some way. I guess there were flashes of it, but not in the way I hoped in terms of an arc.” Still, she added, “That’s a selfish actor’s point of view. They definitely had bigger fish to fry.”

Grace, who was 21 when Lost began airing, told The Independent that the cast was somewhat isolated from the frenzy surrounding the show. “We were so removed in this tiny village – it felt like this little theater troupe. It was just before social media, which was an enormous blessing for everyone’s mental health. And the concept of the show being popular was just this vague, fuzzy, sort of ‘Oh, that’s nice.’”

Grace’s credits also include the Taken movies and TV series Fear the Walking Dead and Californication. She’s currently starring in horror pic Blackwater Lane.

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