I just got an email from a friend asking me if Harold Perrineau’s character on Lost has been killed off. Not yet that I know of, but that’s not a terrible assumption considering that the guy has just signed on to star in 28 Weeks Later, the hacky sounding sequel to 28 Days Later, which is shooting right in the middle of Lost time.
Perrineua will play an “upbeat” American pilot in the sequel, which finds a new viral outbreak hitting London a half year after the last one burnt itself out. The movie also stars Jeremy Renner, not playing a scumbag for once. If he’s playing a guy named Walt and Perrineau gets to spend half the movie shouting his name, they have my money for this seriously unnecessary sequel.
So what does this mean for Lost? Spoilers for the end of Season 2 to follow… At the end of the second year, Michael (Perrineau’s character) and his son Walt were sent off in a boat by the Others with a compass heading that would allow them to escape the Island of Mystery. The show has been filming for a little while now, so it’s quite possible that Perrineau shows up in the first couple of episodes, and it isn’t like the guy didn’t disappear from the series for half of last year anyway.
Here’s the thing – the show takes place over a very limited amount of time. Just over two and a half months have passed on that island in the last two years, and the actor playing Walt has grown as you would expect a young adult to grow – ie, two years worth, not two months. The show runners have said they have a plan to deal with the actor’s growth – wouldn’t it be great if the plan was to have Michael and Walt’s boat hit a mine in the opening of the season three premiere?
If 28 Weeks Later does well, expect the series to continue with 28 Fortnights Later, 28 Months Later and Four Score and 28 Years Later.