THE CENTRAL STORY ISSUE

Now, we were told that the creators of LOST had the series pretty much mapped out from the very beginning. However, the leaked writer's guide has contrary evidence. And it had to do with the simple network question about guest stars in episodes.

Guest stars in established series are important to continually renew interest inside and outside the show fan base. Executives want to know if conditions are good in a new show to funnel in guest stars (at times from other network shows) to cross-promote the schedule.

And considering that LOST had promised ABC a vast array of island mysteries, including a vast underground bunker complex, guest stars in either back stories or new castaways seems to be a given.

But the guide matter-of-factly stated:

ARE THERE GOING TO BE GUEST STARS?

Yes.

Despite our initial reluctance to introduce any characters beyond our core cast, we have come to realize that in order to tell compelling stories, we need them (on occasion) to come from the outside.

But let us be clear - it will be rare. 

This is not "Gilligan's Island" where every week introduces a hapless Russian Cosmonaut or Broadway Theater Producer who just happens to have washed upon the same shore. "New" characters on LOST will almost always come from within - that is to say, they are already on the island. 

We just haven't discovered them yet.

So the plan for new characters was simple:

1. They already had to be on the island, so the entire island was going to be "self contained" story engine.

2.  They won't just "wash up" on shore.

But the producers warned that guest characters would be "rare" - -  so much so that they really had not thought about needing or wanting any in the series.

Yet, Desmond "washed up" on the island as guest arc that got latched down into a romantic sub-story. Also, Ben was only supposed to play his character for 2 or 3 episodes, as the Other being interrogated by the castaways, but after a strong performance, Michael Emerson rode out the series to the end. The whole Widmore soldiers invading the island story came from the outside. In fact, one could view a majority of the series being generated by sources outside the "core" pilot characters.

There is nothing wrong in adding to the main story line if the guest characters can add to the central story. But is there any evidence that there was a hard and fast central story line from the very beginning of LOST?