While he’s been enjoying quite the career resurgence in the last 10 years or so, Michael Keaton almost made quite a splash on TV back in 2004 when he was nearly cast as Jack on Lost, ABC's island-set mystery that dominated the pop-culture discussion from 2004 to 2010. Before letting your mind run wild, swapping Keaton in for Matthew Fox in various scenes or perhaps wondering how Keaton's Jack could have possibly fit into a love triangle with the younger Kate (Evangeline Lily) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), know that -- had Keaton played the role -- things would have changed dramatically. In fact, the course of the entire series may have been altered thanks to just this one piece of casting.
Keaton, of course, will forever be the best Batman to generations of both casual fans and die-hards (especially now that he’s returning to the role for the upcoming The Flash). He also played the iconic Beetlejuice plus countless other roles in award-wining productions like Dopesick and Birdman. There was a period in the late '90s and early '00s, however, where he wasn't a regular fixture in Hollywood, thanks to a couple of underperforming movies and Keaton’s own interest in life away from the spotlight. After 1998’s box office and critical flop Jack Frost, a half decade went by before Keaton starred in another feature film. And no offense to Forest Whitaker’s First Daughter, starring Katie Holmes, but that film didn't set the world on fire for Keaton either. It wasn't until about a decade later, with 2014’s Birdman, Robocop, and Need for Speed trifecta, that he began making regular appearances in both money-making and well-received films again.
How Michael Keaton Almost Got 'Lost'
ABC had begun casting the Lost pilot when Keaton was approached about playing Jack, who would appear to be the series lead. But, in reality, it wasn’t a “series lead” role at all, because despite his prospective above-the-title billing and likely very prominent placement in marketing materials, the show's creators -- Jeffrey Lieber, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof -- initially intended for Keaton to be shockingly killed off by an unseen monster (similar to the way the plane pilot is in the actual episode).
Evidently, Keaton was entirely onboard with the bait-and-switch fun of having his character meet a mysterious and grisly end, but when the Lost team started to consider reversing that decision and making Jack an ongoing character, Keaton considered that a dealbreaker, especially since it would require him to relocate to Hawaii for months at a time. While that might sound like a dream job to some, Keaton had a life on his ranch in Montana that apparently felt closer to his heart. ABC decided to look elsewhere once it was decided that Jack needed to live on beyond the pilot as a lead character in the show. According to the special features on the Lost Season 1 DVD, Kate was actually meant to take charge of things once Jack met his end. In this almost-reality, Kate wasn’t a young convict on the run from the law, but rather a middle-aged businesswoman grieving the death of her husband in the plane crash.
Keaton and 'Lost' Find Success Elsewhere
Despite Keaton’s possible casting as Jack not working out, the series became such a culture-shattering hit that it was unlikely anyone involved with the show was sitting around wondering what might have been. Between being a ratings smash and winning numerous awards, including an Outstanding Drama Series Emmy for its first season, Lost went on to inspire a whole wave of imitators and mythology-based ongoing series for years to come -- shows like Heroes, Fringe, and Flashforward. As for any possible future continuation of the series in this reboot-friendly television landscape, Lindelof and co-showrunner Carlton Cuse have maintained disinterest in any continuation of the story or characters that wrapped with the series finale but say they remain open to other tales set in the same world.
As for Keaton, he continued to work sporadically over the decade following declining the Jack role on Lost, and then suddenly in 2014 he was back. Though the Robocop remake actually came out a few months before Birdman, it was the latter, a critical smash about an aging actor trying to live beyond the superhero role which defined his career, that kick-started a renaissance that's still underway today for the acclaimed actor. Between a mix of box-office hits, well-received critical darlings, and his recent award-winning turn on Dopesick as a doctor addicted to opioids, it's unlikely Keaton is losing any sleep over the decision not to play Jack nearly 20 years ago either.