Forget which one will end up with Kate. The real mystery of Lost that needs an answer is what happens to Matthew Fox and Josh Holloway after the series saunters off into television history two weeks from today. Will they find future fame and fortune as leading men or quietly wait around until ABC calls them for the Lost reunion special in 2020? The main feature from this week's special -- and not online -- Lost edition of Entertainment Weekly (collect all 10 covers!) offers some hints to what the long-term goals are for the two heroes. Hint: It's movies. But are they being realistic?
Josh Holloway
Post-Series Plans: "Movies, my friend. I'm going to give it two years. If it doesn't work out, I'd love to make another TV show. I just want to give movies a shot. It's now or never. If I do another show, it's another seven-year contract, standard. That's a big commitment at this point in my life. I'd like to hop around a bit."
Translation: "Before Lost, I was a day player; now, I'm f'n Sawyer. Let's do this!"
Chances of Success: High. Holloway is a wonderful actor and given the right movie role -- perhaps in something from J.J. Abrams -- he could be a geek icon with major crossover appeal. Read: Girls like it when he takes off his shirt.
Matthew Fox
Post-Series Plans: "All told, I've done about 275 hours of television. I won't be doing any more television. If I can't find a way to work with really great filmmakers that I respect and admire and be part of movies I want to see in a movie theater, then I'll probably be doing something else. It's not about some bullsh*t snobbery about TV. It's about flexibility. I think that's what's best for me as I enter the next portion of my career."
Translation: "Do you know who I am?"
Chances of Success: Low. Matthew Fox, the Television Actor is a tremendous presence and his work as Jack on Lost has been nuanced and surprising -- rarely has a leading man allowed himself to look like such a pompous jerk time and time again. But Matthew Fox, the Movie Star is a non-starter. Keep in mind, his two biggest roles during Lost have been in Vantage Point (bad) and Speed Racer (worse). If those are the types of movies he likes to see in the theater, then he's plagued by bad taste. Worse, his acting style seems ill-suited for big screen work. Would the patented Fox half-cry actually translate on a 60 foot screen? No, probably not.
And for those of you wondering if Entertainment Weekly offers any series finale tidbits, there's this quote from Fox: "If we all did our jobs right, I really feel [the ending] is going to be terribly sad, but at the same time be really cathartic and full of hope. It has the potential to be really profound. I will say this: It's not going to be what anybody thinks it is. I know a lot of people have written a lot of theories about how this will all end -- and I'm pretty sure nobody guessed it." Begin speculation... now.
ยท The Last of 'Lost' [Entertainment Weekly, magazine only]