Chris Carter talks about the Lost finale.

[ethsnafu]

How did I miss this?

There are certain things in life that only those who have experienced them can fully understand: fighting in a war, walking on the moon, and successfully wrapping up a popular serialized television drama. The TV event is especially daunting; all the accelerating hype and anticipation leaves fans convinced that the entire validity of the series retroactively rests with the decisions made in the final moments (see: those people who hate The Sopranos now). Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse now face this impossible challenge, and it feels like the sanity of the Internet rests in their lap. To help them feel less alone, we called four people who can feel their fan-fearing pain: Tom Fontana (St. Elsewhere), Chris Carter (The X-Files), Shawn Ryan (The Shield), and Josh Schwartz (The O.C.), each of whom helped to craft momentous, memorable, and controversial wrap-ups to beloved shows. We asked them to reflect on their own finales, and see what advice they can give from the love and hate they received when it was all over.

To read the article in full and find out what advice Chris had to give to Damon and Carlton the click here.

There's one particularly interesting bit from Chris in which he states "...I had something that I wanted to do, which would be more of a surprise and a shocking ending, but I was talked out of it by cooler heads..." anyone know what he was planning?

Eth

[Guest soylentgreenspeople]

Is that sarcasm for a Millennium movie maybe?

[Libby]

There was a final (filmed, but cut) scene, after the scene with M&S in the motel room, where 'Toothpick Man' delivers a message about 'the truth' to President Bush in the Oval Office. Presumably that's what CC is referring to.

[ethsnafu]

Is that sarcasm for a Millennium movie maybe?

He's talking specifically about ideas he had for the final episode of the X-Files unfortunately. No reference to Millennium here.

There was a final (filmed, but cut) scene, after the scene with M&S in the motel room, where 'Toothpick Man' delivers a message about 'the truth' to President Bush in the Oval Office. Presumably that's what CC is referring to.

Now that's interesting Libby. I wonder why others were against that as an idea? I found an interview with Alan Dale who suggested that a number of different endings were filmed including the one you mention.

I was in the show The X-Files the last seven episodes playing The Toothpick Man. It was an interesting thing. We actually shot the final scene. They completely built the Oval Office and I was in the Oval Office with President Bush – they got that famous guy that’s a Bush lookalike and they cast him in it – and we did this scene, the end of The X-Files, which in the end they didn’t use. And I think they did seven different scenes like that and then decided which one to use so no one could guess how it was going to end. And I’m not sure that that’s not what they’re going to do here too. I don’t know that it is. So I think they’re being very careful to make sure that nobody knows how it’s going to end.

Source: hobotrashcan.com

Now that's interesting. I wonder if there's any truth in it.

Eth

[The Old Man]

Thanks for this link Eth, an interesting read indeed. Avoid like the proverbial Marburg Virus if you haven't yet savoured The Shield though!