Libby (Lost)
Libby is a fictional character on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific. She is played by American actress Cynthia Watros. The character is introduced as a member of the tail section survivors in the second season episode "Everybody Hates Hugo", together with Bernard, and she ends her role as a living character in the episode "?".
| Libby | |
|---|---|
| Lost character | |
Cynthia Watros as Libby in 2005. | |
| First appearance | "Adrift" (stand-in) "Everybody Hates Hugo" (portrayed by Watros) |
| Last appearance | "The End" |
| Created by | |
| Portrayed by | Cynthia Watros |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Elizabeth |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Clinical psychologist |
| Nationality | American |
| Former residence | Newport Beach, California, United States |
Reception towards the character is generally positive, especially after her death, although controversy exists as Watros was charged with and pled guilty to driving under the influence while filming the show. Her given name, Elizabeth, was revealed in the season 2 episode “Live Together, Die Alone”. A 2009 San Diego Comic Con panel video listed her surname as "Smith", though this is never mentioned on-screen.
Libby appeared in twenty-four episodes, twenty-one of them in the second season, one in the fourth, and twice in season six in "Everybody Loves Hugo" and the finale. She is one of four main characters to never receive a flashback centric episode dedicated to the character (the others being Frank Lapidus, Ilana Verdansky, and Charlotte Lewis). Though the character has a brief flashback at the end of the episode "Dave" shown from her point of view.
Watros was slated to return at various points of the series but did not. After her non-appearance season 3, Libby's backstory was set to be explored in the fourth season, but this was scrapped due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. The actress had been contracted to recur in the season but only made one appearance in "Meet Kevin Johnson" before the WGA strike halted production of the series. Following the end of the strike, scheduling conflicts prevented her from returning in the fifth season to explore the character's backstory as planned. In the sixth season, the writers chose to ignore her backstory in favor of committing to the season's flash-sideways storyline despite Watros' availability and appearances in the season.