Dominic Monaghan On Joining FlashForward and His 'Traumatic' End On Lost

There are pretty solid rumors out there that you're returning to Lost for three episodes this season. Can you tell me anything about that?

Not really. [Laughs] You know, I'm good friends with Damon [Lindelof, Lost's executive producer], and he and I spend time with each other just in our down time, you know? That inspires a lot of rumors, just when we have breakfast or lunch together. At this particular point, there's not a lot I can tell you about it.

But would you be so cruel to cameo at the Lost Comic-Con panel and fan the flames of speculation without a pretty strong hint that you'd be coming back?

Mm-hmm. I would probably be on the Lost panel because I'm family and I know they want me to be back. Whether or not that fully transpires or not is going to be a different story.

When you're killed off of a show like Lost and you see that public reaction to your death, what is it like? I always imagined it would be a bit like that scene in Tom Sawyer where he spies on his own funeral.

It was traumatic, you know? I had to go to a darker place to try to bring some of that darkness into the passing of Charlie. My personality was kind of affected by where my character went -- it changed me, in a way. I think if you've held onto a character for several years and then you're getting rid of that character, it's going to be traumatic. It's like graduating school or leaving university, it's change. There's a great quote by Leonard Cohen where he says "Everything cracks, it's what lets the light in." I think that kind of makes sense for me -- in those times of change, we grow the most.

Guillermo del Toro is preparing to resurrect Middle Earth to shoot The Hobbit. That's got to evoke a wealth of feelings in you. Is that something that practically demands a set visit?

Probably, yeah. It's been over ten years now since Lord of the Rings started, the first one. I'm still friends with Viggo [Mortensen] and Billy [Boyd] and Orlando [Bloom] and Elijah [Wood] and Ian [McKellen] and Sean [Bean]. Because of that, you're in the family, you know? I saw Peter Jackson in San Diego [during Comic-Con] when he was there for District 9 and I was there for FlashForward. Because of that, you are immersed in the world whether you like it or not, and I think it would be fun for us all to go down there and celebrate the reopening of Middle Earth again.

And go haze whoever gets cast as Bilbo, right?

You know, I'm not sure if they have any concrete ideas who that guy is gonna be yet. To a certain extent, I kind of wish that I had never played Merry so I could throw my name into the hat and see if they went for it. I've kind of ruined it now! I actually played Gollum one time when Andy Serkis was away. I filled in for him and did a scene with Ian Holm, and I remember thinking at the time, "Man, this would be so much fun to do."

Get yourself in there for some motion capture, Dominic!

I'll try, man! I'll definitely try.

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