Why Harold's Back on Lost

by William Keck January 25, 2010 09:57 AM EST


News that Harold Perrineau will be returning to Lost late in the show’s upcoming final season came as a shocker to many who recalled the actor’s public criticism of the 2008 decision to kill off his character, Michael, and have Michael’s son, Walt, raised by his grandmother (something he felt could be perceived as a “ghetto stereotype”). But speaking publicly for the first time since the announcement, Harold says, “I was always open to returning because there was stuff I thought was unresolved. I’m hoping we can put Michael to rest in a way we haven’t done so far.”

When he returns to the Hawaii set at month’s end, Harold’s anticipating some time in the makeup chair to make him look like Michael, since he’s on loan from the upcoming movie “The Hungry Rabbit Jumps,” in which he plays the principal of a school where Nick Cage is a teacher. “I now have a mustache and short-cropped hair,” Harold says from the New Orleans set. The actor’s deal was finalized just one day before Lost’s executive producers announced that he’d be back, along with Cynthia Watros, whose character, Libby, was shot to death by Harold’s character in 2006. “There are two big hopes I have for Michael,” says Harold. “One is I hope he gets to apologize to his son.” (Unlikely, says exec producer Carlton Cuse, explaining it’s tricky to bring back Malcolm David Kelley, now 17, because “he looks much older than his character. But we’re still seeing if there’s a way to work that out.”)

Harold’s second hope: “That I get to apologize to Libby, since her death was really an accident.” (Oops!) Coincidentally, Harold’s other upcoming film, “30 Days of Night: Dark Days,” casts him as a vampire slayer alongside Kiele Sanchez, who had a brief run on Lost, as Nikki, before her character (along with Rodrigo Santoro’s Paulo) was buried alive in 2007. “I wish she’d been part of our first season, because she’s so much fun,” raves Harold, who was off Lost during Kiele’s run. “When we first met, we literally hugged like we were long-lost brother and sister. I remember her telling me she was so excited to be in Hawaii when she joined Lost, but then people kept telling her tales of what she shouldn’t do on set, and she panicked. And then they killed her.”
http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/kecks-exclusives/why-harolds-back-on-lost-3854.html