If Lost's pilot brought audiences to the edge of their seats, then "Walkabout" kept them there.
The first season's fourth episode — which aired 20 years ago on October 13, 2004 — is a riveting hour that unpacks John Locke's (Emmy-winner Terry O'Quinn) backstory, as the enigmatic character reinvents himself on the island along with many of his fellow Flight 815 crash survivors. But unlike Jack or Claire, John has a secret — one that the island's "powers" cure him of.
Before John arrived on this mysterious tropical paradise and led a team of passengers on a wild boar hunt, he was struggling stateside in his cubicle to deliver TPS reports to his grating boss Randy (Billy Ray Gallion) in between playing strategy games on his lunch break. For coshowrunners and executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, under the guidance of Lost cocreator and executive producer J.J. Abrams, the goal was to establish Locke as someone who felt like he was meant to do something more, something special, with his life.
That proved challenging for John to achieve given that (spoiler alert for a 20-year-old episode of TV) he lost the use of his legs and was confined to a wheelchair.
But when "Walkabout" reveals in a key scene on the beach that Locke can now miraculously walk, the person John was and the man he is about to become all collapse into one frame. In doing so, this moment and the episode solidified Lost as can't-miss, appointment television, where anything can happen and no one is what or who they seem.
"[Before] I got the script for 'Walkabout,' I had no idea John was in a wheelchair," O'Quinn tells the Television Academy in an exclusive interview. For the episode and the show's 20th anniversary, the actor revisits key moments from "Walkabout," including the knife lesson Matthew Fox's dad tried to "teach" him, and the impact this episode and the character had on him.
Television Academy: "Walkabout" is often singled out as a very significant watershed moment for the series, one that made it a constant subject for discussion around the watercooler. While shooting the episode, do you recall a sense among the production that this one was special?
Terry O'Quinn: Yes, I did. Absolutely. But I thought [Lost] was a different show from the moment we got to the beach and there was airplane wreckage lying around and all that kind of stuff. We all said, "This had better go. They're putting a lot of money into this." [Before] I got the script for "Walkabout," I had no idea John was in a wheelchair.
Wow.
Nobody told me, "By the way, you were in a wheelchair when you were on the airplane." So when I got it, I was like, "Whoa." That blew my mind. And I thought, "Yeah, this is going to be fun."
So when you were first approached for the show, J.J. [Abrams] didn't tell you about Locke's backstory?
No. J.J. said something like, "There's not that much for you to do in the first episode, but we'll develop it. There'll be stuff."
I assume your involvement on Lost stemmed from your work with J.J. on Alias as FBI Director Kendall?
I believe so. It may be apocryphal, but as I recall, the darling cast of Alias — Victor [Garber] and Jennifer [Garner] and all those people — they went to J.J. at some point and said, "We should give Terry more. He should be a regular, because he's here all the time and he's doing all the work" — things like that. That's what I understand, at least. And the network said no. Sort of "When you're getting the milk for free ..." kind of stuff. Well, not free, but almost free. [Laughs] So, I think at that point, J.J. then said, "We're going to have something for you. I'll find something for you."
Well, back to Lost: There are a few standout moments John has in this episode, and one of them is the speech he gives on the beach about hunting boar. What are your memories shooting that speech or the moments leading up to it?
I still remember the image of the knife going by Sawyer's (Josh Halloway) head and planting next to it. [Laughs] I remember the discussion about that moment, because I had started practicing [knife throwing] and I actually got very good at it. I remember saying to the director, Jack [Bender], "Maybe I should just throw it." And then you hear this voice from someone on the production, like, "No way, you're not throwing it!" [Laughs]
How did you prep and train for it?
I got pretty good. Whenever I see people in some movie and they're just like randomly running and throwing a knife, I go, "Well, you have to be amazing to do that, because the knife spins. There are so many rotations per yard." So I would step it off. Like, six paces would be, like, 20 feet. And then I got really good at that distance, and then half the distance, 10 feet. And I could even do 30 feet and hit things and stick it. There's a tree on the North Shore [in Hawaii] where we filmed, on the beach where we all lived for so long, that still bears the scar of all my practice.
I used to tell the Teamsters, the crew members, who are just great — they'd say to me, "How good are you? Can you hit what you're throwing at?" I said, "How about you put a dollar bill on that tree? I'll be 20 feet away and I get five throws to hit the dollar. And if I hit it, I get to keep it. And if I don't hit it, I'll give you $5." So that was a running bet with the Teamsters. And they were sweethearts, too. They always loved it, because I think I only lost once.
Do you recall how they did that knife gag?
I do. They did it on a string. And I thought, "Hmm, okay." I mean, if you go back and watch it, the knife hit the wrong side up. Whenever I threw it, it hit the proper way. But [the special effects team], they sort of had to hang it on the structure of the knife. I think, at that point, it was a wooden-handled knife, too. It wasn't the one that I still have, which was the SOG; I have a few of them lying around here.
And I remember once that Matthew Fox's father came to the set to visit. I was throwing knives, and Matthew's father came over and said, "You're doing that wrong." And I was going, like, "Well, okay. How do you do it?" I was throwing them by the handle, and I think I did a little video of that somewhere, on the DVD maybe. Anyway, if the blade is heavy enough — if that's the heaviest half of the knife, then the heaviest half should be in the front. So you throw with the other half, so I hold the handle. And his dad said, "No, you hold it by the blade like I've seen people do it." He tried several times to throw it that way, and Matthew, he's over there just looking with a smile. [Laughs] And finally I walk off, and after a while, I think his dad eventually stuck one. So I went back [over there] and Matthew said, "Ah, I see you met my dad." [Laughs] But Matthew, he was really cool about it.
That's a great story. I've never heard that before. So how challenging was it for you to shape this character and develop him when you had no idea who Locke was until shooting the episode?
I don't know. I suppose it was pretty challenging, because it was great fun. I mean, to me, as an actor, things that aren't challenging are usually not as much fun. So I try to find a way to make things challenging if they're not. But in that case, I didn't have to at all. I just enjoyed it as it all opened up before me. And then at some point, I said, "This guy just went to heaven." I mean, that's what he's talking about — hunting boar and all this stuff. He's walking around through the jungle, and he's in heaven. It's no wonder that, later on, he doesn't want to leave [the island] or want anyone else to.
But I remember that [speech] being, like, the moment Locke was born, really. That monologue. And that wonderful Michael Giacchino music playing when Locke stood up at the end [on the beach], when he saw his foot move. I thought it was beautifully timed out just in terms of when you learn what is happening to John and who he is. And when you learn about John's previous life off the island, before the crash, it just strengthens that concept of Locke being born, coming out of his shell as it were.
Jack Bender directed many episodes of Lost, most of which were key installments of the series, like "Walkabout." What was your working relationship with him like?
My relationship with Jack was always great. He would mostly let us roll with it. Because to Damon and J.J. and Carlton's credit, they wrote to [the cast's] strengths. Once they saw what the actors' strengths were, how the actors played and what they played best, they wrote for that quite often. So Jack basically just had to steer this pretty well-oiled machine.
And he occasionally said, "Well, you're not going to like that" when you did something. I remember there was a scene [in an episode] when I was talking to Boone (Ian Somerholder) or something, and I started to cry. And then if I'm trying to talk when I'm crying, [mimics high-pitched voice] my voice starts going like that. And Jack said, "Yeah, you're not going to like that. So let's take a better run at that." I think as much as anything, he looked out for us. He set up shots, he made plans and things like that, but ultimately he just kind of let us go. If he had some good ideas, and he had plenty, he would come up with them. Otherwise, I was always happy when Jack was directing.
What was it like for you shooting Locke's scene at the end with the tour guide who denies Locke the walkabout, where we get the famous "Don't tell me what I can't do!" line?
I remember that being not too much of a burden, because that was the revelation [about the character] in the episode. The reveal that he was, all this time in flashback, in a wheelchair. I thought it was set up so well, and all I had to do was not mess it up and just invest as much [truth] as possible in the scene as I could. But those scenes always make me nervous, because you load them up with the anticipation of doing it.
And it's funny, because "Don't tell me what I can't do" is one of the things that has apparently stayed with people more than almost anything regarding Locke. There are people who say that to me or want to hear it, and we had no idea when shooting that it would become a thing 20 years later, you know?
Did you or any of your collaborators have a sense during the making of "Walkabout" that Locke was going to emerge as such a popular and integral character?
I recall the show being really popular [at the time], and what I recall thinking was, "I'm playing a really important character on the show." That was what I thought, primarily. That was the thing that sort of juiced me up the most. I didn't know what the plan [for Locke] was. I've never talked to Damon and asked, "Was this the plan all along, the arc that Locke took?" So I don't know if it was or not.
But when I go somewhere to work on something, I want to matter. And I was really happy that my character mattered in the show.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
Lost is now streaming on Hulu and Netflix.
