Maggie Grace Says Leaving Lost Was 'the Worst Heartbreak of My Career'

Maggie Grace still remembers a role she wishes she could have kept.

The actress (40) revealed that she often remembers her role as Shannon Rutherford on lost, which launched her career. Although she was only in the series for less than two seasons, Grace recalled how she rose to fame very quickly at only 20 years old.

“I feel for the actors, like, Twilight or anything else where [its cast] suddenly thrust into the spotlight when you feel very ill-prepared,” she said The Independent. “It’s a lot at that age, but I think the fact that I was the baby of the cast [helped].”

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Maggie Grace.

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Filming took place in a “small village” in Hawaii, which helped make Grace feel less like she was thrust into the Hollywood spotlight. She even described the cast and crew as “this little theater troupe.”

“It was right before social media, which was a huge blessing for everyone’s mental health,” Grace said. “And the concept of a popular series was just vague, vague, like, ‘Oh, that’s nice.'”

After becoming comfortable playing Shannon, Grace admitted she was caught off guard when she learned her character would be killed off in six episodes of the second season – back in 2005.

“I thought it would take her a little further,” she explained. “This is still the worst heartbreak of my career. I was devastated.”

She said she thinks she was removed from the show because her character was a “caricature of white privilege” and the plot no longer needed her. She also joked that “maybe I was too good at the job I was assigned to be incredibly boring.”

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Maggie Grace.

Stefanie Keenan/Getty

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Even the way Shannon was portrayed in her final episodes didn’t match what Grace envisioned for her. She felt there was more character development she could have worked on.

“I thought maybe they would do something surprising, or have a different color [to her personality],” she said. “Maybe, at the last minute, she would redeem herself and be incredibly self-sacrificing in a way. I guess there were flashes of that, but not in the way I was hoping for in terms of the arc.”

She added: “It’s a selfish actor’s point of view. They definitely had bigger fish to fry.”

Since her departure from lost, Grace starred in the trilogy Enterprises films, played Irina in Twilight saga and appeared in the series Fear the living dead. She also became a mom with husband Brent Bushnell.

“I don’t think I’ve slept in four years,” she jokingly told the newspaper.

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Source: HIS Education