When Lost began, Jorge Garcia's Hurley was mainly used as comic relief, though he's since shown himself to be capable of much more during the show's six seasons. Fortunately for Garcia, he got to flex all of those acquired muscles last night in the show's final, Hurley-centric installment. As he prepares to say goodbye to the series forever, the 36-year-old actor rang up Movieline to discuss last night's episode, the machinations involved in getting guest star Cynthia Watros to return, and the difficult moments yet to come.
In the first season, you had to wait a long time for your very own episode. This season, you had to wait a while too, but at least we knew from the season premiere what Hurley's situation would be like in the flash-sideways world. Was that kind of a relief?
I was still anxious to wait for my episode to show up. I was going through the list, like, "Man, I'm pretty due!" I did get some great episodes leading up to it, though, and I did like the flash-sideways scene where I'm catching Locke just as he's being fired. I didn't know it when I was shooting it, but I kind of liked seeing this Hurley as it aired -- he had a swagger to him that was pretty cool.
I feel like this year, you've had the most stuff to do since season one.
It's pretty big, yeah. The role has been stepped up a lot this season as far as taking control of the situation and making stuff happen. It's been good to have this Jacob business happen so soon in the beginning to give him this whole new level of confidence. He gets stuff done that has to get done.
What do you remember about the first season, waiting around to get your backstory?
I remember it came late. I think someone had a second episode before I even got my first...it might have been a second Jack episode. I remember getting emails from [executive producer Damon Lindelof] saying, "OK, here's your origin: you're actually a lottery winner worth so many millions of dollars and you have bad luck." That's all I got, and I was like, "OK, that's cool," and then I got the script and I was reading it thinking, "Where's my Twilight Zone ending? Where's my moment that makes people go, "Oh my gosh," where's my "Guys, where are we," where's my [revelation] that I was in a wheelchair before the crash?" And then at the very end, it happened that the numbers on the hatch matched the numbers that I won the lottery with, and I was like, "OK, that's great." It was so connected to the island itself that I definitely felt pretty special.
Was it rare to get that email from Damon that answered a secret ahead of time?
For the most part, the communication I've had with the writing side of the show is just in the material they've gave me. If they saw something they liked, they might write to that. That tends to be how actors communicate with the writers on many shows, and I kind of enjoy it that way. I let them do their thing over there, and I take that and mix it in with my stuff over here. Where all that stuff comes together is how we make Lost, and I've enjoyed the whole process of essentially being in the dark about the big picture of the show in order to do it. That's the animal of Lost, and it's kind of been what I've gotten used to.
What was it like to work with Cynthia Watros again so long after your initial arc together?
It was great. It was even kind of out of left field, because from what I was hearing, it was like, "Don't expect it to happen." There was even an announcement that they might have to address Libby without [Cynthia], because they didn't think they'd be able to get her back to join the show. I found out just moments before the announcement that she was actually coming back. It was cool, because that was right before the TCAs, and I went into my interviews saying, "Yeah, I have no more information to give you besides what you just heard. I found out five minutes before you did."
A lot of fans were always clamoring for Libby's backstory and why she ended up in the mental institution. Was getting that answer ever important to you?
I definitely felt like there was some stuff that was left open-ended with her death. It would have been great to have gotten some elements of closure to that story, just because it affected my character directly, but I'm also enjoying this whole new sideways thing going on, and that it's the connection they made on the island that gets them to have that moment of remembrance in the sideways world. It's kind of exciting to think, "OK, how's everyone else going to wake up? How will they make that happen?" It feels like it's the start of something.
I know that in season four, they announced that Cynthia would be coming back for a few episodes, and then because of the writers strike, she only ended up in one. Would we have gotten those answers then, do you think?
The writers strike definitely cut short our season quite a bit. That's something that we might have to find out after, like, "Here's the stuff we never got to." They should do that special!
During the last few years, a lot of characters died, so congratulations to surviving all six seasons.
Knock on wood!
There were some characters, though, who fans thought were pretty much safe for the whole run of the series. Did you ever feel like Hurley was in real danger?
It was great that the fans dug Hurley so much that they felt that way, but I do feel that this show only really works when everybody is in danger. You never were safe. Whenever you got a phone call from Damon and Carlton's assistant saying, "They will be calling you at this time," that was always kind of a nervous phone call to get.
And then they'd just be calling to say, "We love you in the dailies! Keep it up!"
[Laughs] Exactly! All the news can come in that way. If it comes a few days before the script comes out, it can make you nervous.
Over these six years, what was the most challenging moment you were asked to play?
I've got a pretty hard moment in the finale.
Is it physically hard or emotionally hard?
It's emotionally hard. Perhaps my heaviest moment ever.
Have you wrapped the finale yet?
No, we're still shooting. Right now, I think we're going until the 23rd or the 24th, and I think that'll be the real ending.
Have Damon and Carlton been on set for it, now that there's no more episodes to break and write?
They have been, twice this past week. It's kind of a thing that happens at the end of the season. A lot of times, they'll come out and tell us what happens in the secret scenes that we don't get in our scripts. We have our scripts for the finale missing the final act, and when you're with them, they'll pull you aside and say, "OK, here's what happens in the final act."
So they just tell you to reserve that day and you won't know what you'll be doing until the last minute?
I have a scene that I'm shooting tomorrow that I got the pages for yesterday. It was great because I knew I had that scene for a week and I hadn't gotten the script for it, and then I was in the makeup trailer and I saw that somebody in the makeup department had left the scene there. I snatched it and read it and then when I got my script, I saw on the last page it said, "This page is only for producers, director, and actors in the scene to read." The scene actually continued past what I'd read in someone else's copy, and it was kind of fun to be in the know that time, because I haven't ever been in a secret scene before.
Your costar Daniel Dae K
im just shot a new pilot, I know some other actors are taking a little time off. Have you decided what your next move will be?
Nope, not yet. There's people who are looking to see what their next thing might be, but I'm not in a huge rush to take whatever's being offered at the moment. Stuff that seems interesting, I'm definitely submitting myself for, so we'll see. I'm fine taking my time with it.
You didn't often take a project during your hiatus. Is having that free time important to you?
I've had a lot of fun during the hiatuses doing international press, because I've gotten to see a lot of parts of the world. I'm definitely able to fill my time, should I not be working. It could go either way for me.