It’s wild to realize that it’s been twenty years already sinceLostdebuted. First premiering on ABC in 2004,Lostwas one of the last big network TV shows, the kind where we gathered around the proverbial watercooler week after week for six seasonsto discuss our theories of what it all meant. Just as much as theJeffrey Lieber,J.J. Abrams, andDamon Lindelofseries changed on screenover those 121 wild episodes,it changed even more before a single scene was ever filmed.
Big names were up for the lead roles, and some of the characters underwent radical changes from page to screen. The most significant change went to the lovable Hurley, a character so popular that the rock band Weezer even named an album after him. He wasn’t meant to be so popular, though.Hurley was going to be a much different character, one who was divisive and not at all likable, and not one that was going to be around very long — but then J.J. Abrams saw a young actor namedJorge Garcia.
Lost follows the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, which crashes on a mysterious island in the South Pacific. The diverse group must work together to survive while uncovering the island’s many secrets, including a hidden hatch, a smoke monster, and other supernatural elements. Known for its complex narrative structure, the series includes flashbacks and flashforwards that provide deeper insights into the characters' backstories and their lives off the island. As they navigate the island’s dangers and mysteries, the survivors form bonds and face challenges that test their limits and reveal hidden truths.
Hurley Was Originally Going To Be a Middle-Aged Redneck in ‘Lost’
In 2013, the creators and cast ofLostsat down withEmpireto discuss the origins of the series. Casting directorAlyssa Weisbergrevealed thatJon Hammread for the role of Jack Shepard in the days beforeMad Men, but as we know, it wasMatthew Foxwho got the job.Josh Hollowayalso admitted thatLostsaved his career. When he was cast as James “Sawyer” Ford, he was about to quit acting and make a career change, as he’d just got his real estate license in the mail four days earlier.
The best casting story, however, goes to the character of Hugo “Hurley” Reyes. Abrams said that they were writingLostas they were casting it, which casting directorApril Webstercalled chaos becausecharacters were constantly being added and changed. The biggest change went to Hurley, as Webster said,“Hurley was originally a 50 year-old redneck NRA guy.”
None of that fits the actor who played him. Jorge Garcia might have been born in Nebraska, but with a Cuban mother and a Chilean father, a “redneck” is the last thing you’d call him. When he was cast onLost, Garcia was only 31 years old, almost two decades younger than what the character was supposed to be. Sowhy was Jorge Garcia cast, when he was the furthest thing from the original idea?
Jorge Garcia Was Cast on ‘Lost’ After J.J. Abrams Saw Him on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
It was fate that brought Jorge Garcia toLost, one that was prettay, prettay, prettay good. April Webster said that Garcia got the part"because JJ had seen him the night before onCurb Your Enthusiasm, playing a drug dealer.“Garcia as a drug dealer doesn’t seem to fit, no matter how good of an actor he is,but this wasCurb Your EnthusiasmandLarry David, so Garcia wasn’t going to play any stereotypical, imposing drug dealer.
Garcia was already establishing himself on TV, working on theTed DansonCBS seriesBecker, where he played Hector Lopez for 13 episodes in the final season.When he was onCurb Your Enthusiasm, it was only for one episode, in a part that lasted just a few minutes, but Garcia showed audiences, and one J.J. Abrams, what he was capable of.
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Garcia appears in the Season 4Curb Your Enthusiasmepisode “The Car Pool Lane.“In it, Larry’s father has glaucoma and his son decides to buy him marijuana to smoke to help him out. This being Larry, he can’t play it cool, with his eccentricities and anxiety getting in the way.He goes up to the stone-faced Garciawhen he sees him standing on a street corner selling drugs and awkwardly makes it known that he’d like some weed.Garcia looks straight ahead almost the entire time and tells Larry to relax.The creator ofSeinfeldquestions the dealer’s prices before giving in as they do a cringeworthy exchange of drugs for money. “Jesus Christ,” an exasperated Garcia says, as a flustered Larry David walks away. It’s not a shocking, over-the-top scene, but it stands out becauseCurb Your Enthusiasmis a series that’s improvised and Garcia just hung out there with one of the kings of TV while coming across as a likable person when maybe he shouldn’t be. Who wouldn’t want to hire him?
Hurley Wasn’t Meant To Last Long on the ‘Lost’ Island
Jorge Garcia made it toLost, but just because he was there, it didn’t mean he was going to last. In fact,he was going to die in the pilot. Garcia didn’t put it together at first when he saw that Hurley’s character breakdown said “redshirt,“a term from Star Trek that represents the background characters who are just there to die every week. “I thought it was just that he wore a red shirt,” Garcia said. And just how was Hurley going to die? That answer is more wild than anything.
“Early on I was supposed to drop Hurley off a cliff in the pilot, because he was too heavy to hold,” Josh Holloway confessed to Empire. That would have been the most humiliating death for a character and one insensitive to Jorge Garcia as an actor. Would his death supposed to have been funny, because the fat guy fell to his doom for being too big? Co-creator Damon Lindelof admitted that the reasoning for such a demise was the idea of “pure survival. Darwin. Dog eat dog.” Lindelof said that idea quickly changed once they met Garcia.
Garcia is the most interesting and lovable character onLost. In the beginning, he doesn’t fit in, and he’s not supposed to. He’s surrounded by people fitter than him, with Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway,Evangeline Lilly,Naveen Andrews, and others looking like movie stars, whereas Hurley is portrayed as the frumpy big guy with long hair. He’s not strong or fast and could have easily died off quicklyor become aChris Farley-like character who falls down a lot, but Hurley’s success is found in going against expectations.
Sure, he can be the comic relief, but he’s not a stereotype. Rather, his weight and its consequences cause him emotional pain, and after going through severe trauma, he spends time in a psychiatric hospital. That life before the island puts him at his weakest because even though he ends up winning the lottery, bad luck follows him everywhere. On the island though, surrounded by all of these physical specimens,Hurley is the brains and the heart ofLost, a kind man, but also the voice of reason who isn’t afraid to speak his mind.We end up cheering for him harder than anyone else— not just because it’s Hurley, but because of the acting talent of the man who played him.
