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Published Mar 20, 2026, 6:30 PM EDT
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Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for The Madison season 1, episode 1.After 22 years since the premiere of Lost, Matthew Fox finally got a chance to do one scrapped storyline from the hit series in Taylor Sheridan's The Madison. Over the six seasons of Lost, Matthew Fox cemented his character, Jack Shephard, as one of the most iconic in sci-fi television history. That almost didn't happen, however, as there was originally another plan for Jack's character.
22 Years Later, A Matthew Fox Character Dies In A Plane Crash During A Pilot Episode
Lost originally had a very different plan for Matthew Fox's character, Jack. The original plan for Lost would have seen Jack die in the pilot episode, and he also would have been played by Michael Keaton instead of Fox. As Michael Keaton explained, the original plan was to present Jack as the protagonist only to kill him in the final ten minutes of the pilot episode to establish the surprising and twisty nature of Lost immediately.
Obviously, that plan was eventually scrapped. The plan changed to where Jack was intended to survive and become the leader of the survivors, and Keaton couldn't make the time commitment to appear on a long-running show. Thus, Matthew Fox was cast instead, and Jack became the protagonist of the entire show. While that was for the best, the original plan for Jack is a well-known piece of Lost trivia.
However, after 22 years, the original plan for Jack's death lived on in a different, unrelated Matthew Fox series. Fox was cast in The Madison, written by Taylor Sheridan, as Paul, the brother of Kurt Russell's Preston Clyburn. Paul lived in Montana, and during a fishing trip with his brother in the premiere of The Madison, both Paul and Preston die in a plane crash.
While it isn't exactly the same premise — Jack was supposed to die to the smoke monster in Lost — there are clear similarities in The Madison. Both of Fox's characters were written to die in or immediately after a plane crash, both were originally intended to be played by famous actors who were expected to be a bigger part of the show, and both were ultimately played by Matthew Fox. Lost's plan may not have made it into its own show, but it lives on in The Madison.
Paul's Death In The Madison Works Better Than Jack Dying In Lost Episode 1 Would've
Image by Yeider ChaconThere is one key difference between Lost's plan to kill off Matthew Fox's character and The Madison actually doing it: Paul's death works better than Jack's would have. If Jack had died in the premiere of Lost, the show would have been significantly worse off. We never would have gotten his will-they-won't-they romance with Kate, there wouldn't have been a clear leader for the survivors, and we wouldn't have seen his relationships with Sawyer and Locke.
In The Madison, the best thing Paul did for the story was die. It's the inciting event of the entire series, unlike Jack's planned death in Lost, which would have essentially just been for shock factor. Paul's death in The Madison caused Preston's death, which in turn sets the stage for the entire Clyburn family to go on this journey to Montana to process their grief and grow closer as a family.
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Paul and Preston haunt the narrative in The Madison. His absence does much more than his presence would have. The entire show is built around his and Preston's death and the grief Stacy and the rest of the family have to deal with because of it. The same wouldn't be true if Jack had died in the pilot of Lost. He would have just been another casualty of the plane crash, and the show would have missed out on some great moments.
The Madison has also found a way to have its cake and eat it too with Matthew Fox's character. Paul still appears through flashbacks to his time with Preston. While he may have died in the pilot, he's not completely gone from the show. Fox gets to have some great character moments, and The Madison gets to benefit from the plan Lost never took advantage of.
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The Madison
Release Date March 14, 2026
Network Paramount Network
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Michelle Pfeiffer
Stacy Clyburn
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Patrick J. Adams
Russell McIntosh
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English (US) ·