Beyond the Episodes
Between seasons, Lost kept going somewhere else: fake corporate websites, two-minute films for phones, novels credited to passengers, a console game and a pretend university. It also leaked onto other shows, from an Oceanic ticket on Fringe to Springfield. Most of it is gone from where it first ran, so this is a map of what there was and where to find it now.
Each entry says what it was. Tap one to see what happens in it.
2004 to 2005: the first season
In-world websites that went up while the show was still new.
Tie-in websiteOceanic Airlines logo, ABC, via Wikipedia Oceanic Airlines website
Tie-in website · 2004 to 2005A working fake website for the airline, with flight booking, a flight tracker, an in-flight magazine and a seating chart of Flight 815.
Fits after S1E25
The site on the Wayback Machine ↗Oceanic Airlines on Wikipedia ↗
Read and listen more (1)
- Tie-in website
The survivor diary on ABC.com
Tie-in website · 2004 to 2006An in-character diary on ABC’s Lost site, written as if by a survivor in the background of the beach camp.
Fits after S2E14
Read and listen more (1)
2005 to 2006
Paperbacks about survivors the show never put on screen.
NovelCover, Hyperion 2005, via Open Library Endangered Species, Secret Identity and Signs of Life
Novel · 2005 to 2006Three paperback novels, each following a Flight 815 survivor in the background of the first season.
Fits after S1E25
Endangered Species on Open Library ↗Secret Identity on Open Library ↗
Read and listen more (1)
Summer 2006: between seasons 2 and 3
The first big game, played out across fake websites, ads and a novel.
- Alternate reality game
The Lost Experience
Alternate reality game · 2006A summer-long online game that started with TV ads for the Hanso Foundation and ran across fake websites, phone lines and real sponsors.
The Hanso phone line
The game began with TV ads for the Hanso Foundation that gave a toll-free number, 1-877-HANSORG.
Rachel Blake’s videos
Video posts from the hacker at the centre of the game, filmed as she travelled.
The Vik Institute
A Hanso-funded research institute in Iceland that Rachel’s trail leads to.
The Psychology Test film
A short DHARMA orientation reel, dated 1980, released during the game.
Sublymonal
A sponsor tie-in site from the summer of 2006, built around flickering hidden messages.
Real Apollo bars
The candy from the Swan pantry was made for real and handed out to fans in August and September 2006.
Fits after S2E24
The Lost Experience on Wikipedia ↗The Hanso Foundation site on the Wayback Machine ↗
NovelCover, Hyperion 2006, via Wikipedia Bad Twin
Novel · 2006A real mystery novel published under the name of a fictional author, a passenger on Flight 815. Survivors find his manuscript in the wreckage.
The author and the flight attendant
Amazon promoted the book with an in-character video interview with its author, Gary Troup.
The name on the cover
Fans found a word hidden in the author’s name.
Fits after S2E24
2007 to 2008: the long wait for season 4
With the end date set, the producers worked Comic-Con and their podcast while ABC filled the gap with short films, a new game and a console tie-in.
Comic-Con panelPhoto by Ewen Roberts, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Comic-Con 2007
Comic-Con panel · 2007Lindelof and Cuse’s season four panel in San Diego on July 26, 2007, two months after the season three finale. They previewed the Via Domus video game and took questions from the floor.
The bells
Each producer brought a bell to ring whenever the other started giving too much away.
The Orchid outtakes
The panel ended on raw takes from a DHARMA orientation film nobody had seen, later posted on ABC.com and added to the season three DVDs.
Fits after S3E23
Read and listen more (2)
Podcast specialPhoto by Ewen Roberts, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons The podcast specials
Podcast special · 2007 to 2008The producers’ official ABC podcast usually picked over the latest episode. Twice in the season four years it broke format: a crash-anniversary special that put fans’ questions on the air, and a Mother’s Day show with both producers’ mothers.
The crash anniversary, September 21, 2007
Three years to the day after Flight 815 went down, the producers answered fans by name and hometown.
Two moms named Sue, May 7, 2008
For Mother’s Day the guests were Lindelof’s and Cuse’s mothers, who turned out to share a first name.
Fits after S3E23
MobisodesABC promotional poster, via Wikipedia Missing Pieces
Mobisodes · 2007 to 2008Thirteen mini-episodes, most of them two or three minutes long, shot with the cast for phones. They came out weekly on Verizon phones from November 6, 2007, each reaching ABC.com six days later, and ran until February 4, 2008, the week season four began.
Fits after S3E23
Missing Pieces on Wikipedia ↗
Read and listen more (18)
- DarkUFO posts
- Magazine issue 15, page 21
- Magazine issue 16, page 23
- Magazine issue 16, page 41
- Magazine issue 16, page 51
- Magazine issue 17, page 21
- Magazine issue 17, page 43
- Magazine issue 17, page 51
- Magazine issue 18, page 31
- Lost: Missing Pieces - Wikipedia
- Missing Pieces Mini-Episodes (01, 02, 03, 05, 07, 10, 12)
- Lost: Down the Hatch: Missing Pieces, Part 1
- Lost: Down the Hatch: Missing Pieces, Part 2
- The LOST Boys: Missing Pieces PT.1
- The LOST Boys: Missing Pieces PT.2
- The Afictionados: Lost: Missing Pieces 1/3
- The Afictionados: Lost: Missing Pieces 2/3
- The Afictionados: Lost: Missing Pieces 3/3
- Alternate reality game
Find 815
Alternate reality game · 2007 to 2008A short online game in the weeks before season four, following an Oceanic technician who will not believe the plane is gone.
Fits after S3E23
Find 815 on Wikipedia ↗The site on the Wayback Machine ↗
Read and listen more (1)
- Video game
Lost: Via Domus
Video game · 2008A console game starring a photojournalist who survived the crash and woke up without his memory.
Fits after S3E23
Summer 2008: between seasons 4 and 5
A recruiting drive that started at Comic-Con.
Comic-Con panelPhoto by Ewen Roberts, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Comic-Con 2008
Comic-Con panel · 2008The producers’ Saturday panel at Comic-Con 2008, the same weekend the DHARMA recruiting drive opened on the convention floor.
Dr. Chang’s message
A new DHARMA film, shown as if a recruit had smuggled it out of the Octagon Global Recruiting booth.
The dog question
Someone had to ask about Vincent.
Fits after S4E14
Read and listen more (2)
- Alternate reality game
Dharma Wants You
Alternate reality game · 2008A recruiting game launched at Comic-Con 2008. Fans signed up with Octagon Global Recruiting and took aptitude tests to join DHARMA.
Fits after S4E14Take our own DHARMA recruitment test
The site on the Wayback Machine ↗
Read and listen more (3)
2009 to 2010: the last two seasons
The last Comic-Con panel and a pretend college for the home stretch.
Comic-Con panelPhoto by Kristin Dos Santos, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Comic-Con 2009, the last panel
Comic-Con panel · 2009Lost’s last Comic-Con panel, in July 2009, with Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Michael Emerson and Nestor Carbonell beside the producers, and Dominic Monaghan for the closing seconds.
The locked box
The producers locked pages they said held the final scene of the series in a box on stage.
Fake ads and a lost audition
Comedy videos made just for the panel, and a cast member in the question line.
DamonCarltonAndAPolarBear.com
Comedian Paul Scheer rushed the stage with a velvet painting of the producers hugged by a polar bear, and sent fans to a website of the same name.
Fits after S5E17
Read and listen more (3)
- Online course
Lost University
Online course · 2009 to 2013A mock online college launched at Comic-Con 2009, with courses on the science, philosophy and history behind the show, unlocked through the season five Blu-ray.
Fits after S5E17
Read and listen more (4)
2010 and after: once the show was over
One more short for the discs, the official encyclopedia, a surprise at Comic-Con and a fan anthology.
- Bonus short
The New Man in Charge
Bonus short · 2010A short film on the season six and complete-series sets, released August 24, 2010. Directed by Paul Edwards and written by Melinda Hsu Taylor, Graham Roland and Jim Galasso.
Fits after S6E18
- Companion book
The Lost Encyclopedia
Companion book · 2010The official A to Z of the show by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry, published by DK with a foreword by Lindelof and Cuse. It came out on October 18, 2010 in the US and October 21 in the UK, after slipping from August.
Jack’s father at the hospital
How the book reads a hospital scene in season four.
Jack’s father on the freighter
How the book reads a visitor on the freighter.
The broken ash circle
How the book reads the cabin in the jungle.
Eloise and the rules of time
How the book reads the woman in the jewelry shop.
Walt’s strange behavior
How the book files Walt’s odd moments.
Fits after S6E18
The Lost Encyclopedia on Open Library ↗
Read and listen more (2)
- Comic-Con panel
Comic-Con 2011: Totally Lost, one year later
Comic-Con panel · 2011Entertainment Weekly’s Jeff Jensen and Dan Snierson looked back a year after the finale, and Lindelof and Cuse turned up as surprise guests. Their public spat on Twitter that week had been a cover.
Fits after S6E18
Read and listen more (1)
- Companion book
The Take2 Guide to Lost
Companion book · 2015An e-book of more than 400 pieces by over 50 fans, critics and academics, edited by Erin Willard and James O’Ehley. It went on sale on September 18, 2015 for $9.99 at the main e-book stores, and one of its pieces is a Lost Addicts Blog post.
Fits after S6E18
Read and listen more (1)
Lost on other shows
Oceanic flights, island send-ups and Lost actors winking at the camera, on shows made by the same people and shows just having fun.
Alias
ABC · 2001 to 2006J.J. Abrams’ spy show, running on ABC while he co-created Lost.
2002 · Cast nod
Terry O’Quinn played an FBI boss on Alias before Abrams cast him as Locke.
S4E17 · A Clean Conscience · 2005 · Shared prop
At LAX, a loudspeaker calls boarding for an Oceanic nonstop to Sydney at Gate 17, the same route as Flight 815, seven months into Lost’s run.
Lostpedia: AliasLostpedia: Oceanic AirlinesWikipedia: Oceanic Airlines
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
ABC · 2003 to nowABC’s late-night show, which turned Lost into running bits for six years.
Lost: The Musical · 2006 · Send-up
A sketch reimagines the castaways’ troubles as a stage musical.
Veronica Mars
UPN and The CW · 2004 to 2007A detective show with Lost fans in the writers’ room and a fortune cookie to prove it.
S2E11 · Donut Run · 2006 · Shared prop
Veronica cracks open a fortune cookie whose lucky numbers are 4 8 15 16 23 42.
I Know What You’ll Do Next Summer · 2007 · Writers’ nod
Two Neptune sheriff’s deputies are named Kitsis and Horowitz, after the Lost writers.
Family Guy
Fox · 1999 to nowCutaway gags at the show everyone was arguing about.
S4E26 · Petergeist · 2006 · Send-up
Statler and Waldorf, the balcony hecklers from the Muppets, heckle Lost from behind the Griffins’ couch.
S7E4 · Baby Not on Board · 2008 · Send-up
Meg suggests a holiday on the Island, which cuts to a heavy-breathing Jack with Kate.
The Office
NBC · 2005 to 2013Dunder Mifflin watched Lost like everyone else.
S3E5 · Initiation · 2006 · Send-up
Dwight fires a rapid quiz at Ryan, including a question about a Lost mystery.
Chuck
NBC · 2007 to 2012A spy comedy about a man with too many secrets in his head, including one about Flight 815.
S1E2 · Chuck Versus the Helicopter · 2007 · Send-up
Shown a photo of a plane during a test, Chuck blurts out that Oceanic 815 was shot down by a missile.
S4E17 · Chuck Versus the First Bank of Evil · 2011 · Cast nod
A bank account number reads 4815162342, and the banker is played by François Chau.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Valve video game · 2007A two-way wink: Lost mentioned Half-Life in its first season, and Valve answered back.
2007 · Shared prop
In chapter six, a hidden room near a gas tank holds an old computer terminal and a familiar octagon logo on the wall.
Scrubs
NBC · 2001 to 2010Sacred Heart stocked its vending machines from the Island.
S7E1 · My Own Worst Enemy · 2007 · Shared prop
The hospital vending machine is stocked with Apollo candy bars.
The Simpsons
Fox · 1989 to nowSpringfield watched Lost too, and kept score for years after it ended.
S19E8 · Funeral for a Fiend · 2007 · Send-up
Marge has Lost saved on the TiVo.
S21E23 · Judge Me Tender · 2010 · Send-up
Aired the same night as the Lost finale. Bart’s chalkboard opens the episode with a guess at how Lost ends.
S23E18 · Beware My Cheating Bart · 2012 · Send-up
Homer binges Stranded, a show about plane crash survivors on an island with a mythology nobody can follow, complete with Jack, Kate, Locke and Sayid types.
S25E10 · Married to the Blob · 2014 · Send-up
Milo from the comic shop boasts of Lost fan fiction that also solves every mystery on Twin Peaks.
S32E15 · Do PizzaBots Dream of Electric Guitars · 2021 · Writers’ nod
At J.J. Abrams’ studio, a bin with the Lost logo is labelled Lost Footage.
Cloverfield
Paramount film · 2008A monster movie from Abrams’ Bad Robot, written by Lost writer Drew Goddard.
2008 · Writers’ nod
A Lost logo flashes for a moment in the opening seconds of the camcorder footage.
Fringe
Fox · 2008 to 2013Abrams again, with Lost producer Jeff Pinkner running it. Fans have long counted it in the same world.
S1E9 · The Dreamscape · 2008 · Shared prop
In the apartment of a dead Massive Dynamic employee, Olivia finds his ticket for a December 22 flight to Omaha on Oceanic Air. The guides call it a ticket, not a boarding pass, and none gives a seat.
Lostpedia: FringeFringe Wiki: The DreamscapeThe Odi blog, 2008
S3E16 · Os · 2011 · Cast nod
Jorge Garcia guest-stars as a Massive Dynamic security guard, and the wheelchair rugby jerseys read 4, 15 and 23.
FlashForward
ABC · 2009 to 2010ABC’s would-be successor, with two Lost actors in the cast and Oceanic on the billboards.
S1E1 · No More Good Days · 2009 · Shared prop
An Oceanic Airlines billboard boasts a perfect safety record, and a Lost ad rides past on a bus. Dominic Monaghan and Sonya Walger are in the cast.
V
ABC · 2009 to 2011ABC’s alien remake, airing on the same network during Lost’s last seasons.
S1E4 · It’s Only the Beginning · 2009 · Shared prop
An alien computer screen shows an octagon logo that Lost fans will know.
How I Met Your Mother
CBS · 2005 to 2014A sitcom guest spot for Jorge Garcia that leaned all the way in.
S6E10 · Blitzgiving · 2010 · Cast nod
Jorge Garcia plays the Blitz, a friend cursed with bad luck, who rattles off six familiar numbers when the gang needs random digits and mentions friends on an island.
30 Rock
NBC · 2006 to 2013Tracy Jordan’s grip on reality includes the Lost cast list.
S5E12 · Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning · 2011 · Send-up
Tracy lists a Lost character among the celebrities who own their own islands.
Wikipedia: Operation Righteous Cowboy LightningLostpedia: Lost on TV
Futurama
Comedy Central · 1999 to 2013A thousand years on, Oceanic wreckage is still floating somewhere strange.
S6E15 · Möbius Dick · 2011 · Shared prop
Among the wrecks in the Bermuda Tetrahedron drifts the broken tail of an Oceanic jet with the Lost logo.
Hawaii Five-0
CBS · 2010 to 2020Shot on Oʻahu, the same island as Lost, with three of its castaways passing through the cast.
S2E1 · Haʻiʻole · 2011 · Cast nod
Terry O’Quinn starts recurring as Joe White, Steve’s mentor, and shares scenes with Daniel Dae Kim, Lost’s Jin.
S4E3 · Ka ʻoiaʻiʻo ma loko · 2013 · Cast nod
Jorge Garcia debuts as Jerry Ortega, a conspiracy theorist and Chin’s old classmate, shooting on the same Oʻahu locations as Lost.
Person of Interest
CBS · 2011 to 2016A Bad Robot surveillance thriller with a familiar face at the keyboard.
S1E1 · Pilot · 2011 · Cast nod
Michael Emerson, who joins Lost in its second season, plays Harold Finch, a secretive billionaire who built a machine that watches everyone. A surveillance timestamp reads 4-8-15-16-23-42.
S2E11 · 2πR · 2013 · Cast nod
Finch goes undercover as a substitute teacher, a doubly pointed role for Michael Emerson.
Batman: Arkham City
Rocksteady video game · 2011Written by Paul Dini, who wrote for Lost’s first season.
2011 · Writers’ nod
The Joker takes a sarcastic swipe at Lost’s unanswered questions and its ending.
Once Upon a Time
ABC · 2011 to 2018Created by Lost writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who stocked Storybrooke with Island props.
S1E1 · Pilot · 2011 · Writers’ nod
Storybrooke’s clock tower is stuck at 8:15, Regina and Henry live at 108 Mifflin Street, and Henry’s bus leaves from Gate 4.
Wikipedia: Once Upon a Time pilotOnce Upon a Time Wiki: Lost referencesThe Miami Hurricane: Lost easter eggs
S1E6 · The Shepherd · 2011 · Shared prop
A bottle of MacCutcheon whisky gets poured, in an episode guest-starring Alan Dale.
Once Upon a Time Wiki: Lost referencesLostpedia: MacCutcheon
S1E20 · The Stranger · 2012 · Shared prop
In a flashback, a boy just arrived in our world looks up at a passing jet in Oceanic colours.
S2E6 · Tallahassee · 2012 · Shared prop
Emma and Neal share stolen Apollo candy bars, Emma’s keychain is a swan in an octagon, and Jorge Garcia plays the giant.
S2E13 · Tiny · 2013 · Shared prop
Characters fly on a Lost airline, and a soap opera from the Lost world plays on a hospital TV.
S4E12 · Darkness on the Edge of Town · 2015 · Cast nod
The villains stop at a Mr. Cluck’s drive-thru, and the voice on the intercom is Daniel Dae Kim.
S7E4 · Beauty · 2017 · Shared prop
Jacinda delivers four eight-piece boxes from Mr. Cluck’s Chicken Shack, and Lucy hopes for an Apollo bar while trick-or-treating.
Alcatraz
Fox · 2012Another Bad Robot mystery on another island, with a Lost castaway in the lead.
2012 · Cast nod
Jorge Garcia, Lost’s Hurley, plays Doc Soto, a comic shop owner and Alcatraz expert, on a show about an island nobody leaves cleanly.
S1E13 · Tommy Madsen · 2012 · Shared prop
In the series finale, an armoured truck’s serial number reads 4 8 15 16.
Castle
ABC · 2009 to 2016A murder at 30,000 feet, on the one airline no Lost fan would book.
S7E21 · In Plane Sight · 2015 · Shared prop
The case plays out aboard an Oceanic Air flight to London.
Wrecked
TBS · 2016 to 2018A sitcom built entirely on the premise: a plane goes down, the survivors wash up on an island.
2016 · Send-up
The whole series is a comedy about passengers stranded on an island after their plane goes down.
Superstore
NBC · 2015 to 2021Cloud 9 sells lottery tickets, and someone always plays those numbers.
S3E19 · Lottery · 2018 · Send-up
A customer plays 4 8 15 16 23 42, and they win.
