Middle Age Hollywood

Josh Holloway has survived for six years as James "Sawyer" Ford on Lost, but now he's facing the end as the series begins its seventh and final season tomorrow night on ABC.

The 40-year-old actor is kept almost as much in the dark about the show's mysteries as its fans, but he provided a few clues as to what viewers can expect from his character.

The old "Sawyer" is back.
"He's definitely got his faults again. He's completely emotionally destroyed and does not care about life so much anymore. However, the lessons he's learned on the island and the humanity that he's been forced to acknowledge and grow with has come into play too. That's probably the only thing that will keep him from offing himself or something."


Going to extremes.
"For me, the entire journey of Lost has been walking that fine line between discovering Sawyer's humanity and, yet, keeping his edge of anger and destructiveness. He's been through every situation possible, emotionally and physically. Sometimes, it's been scary to get in touch with his growth, especially his relationship with Juliet. I really thought the audience might reject the softer side of Sawyer we saw in that. As for what will happen with him and Kate, all I can say is they have a love that is undeniable, but maybe it must be denied."


He wasn't expecting a long stay on the island.
"When I read the pilot, I was like, 'This guy's such an ass—. I gotta figure out how to stay alive.' As a matter of fact, I remember telling my wife when we moved to Hawaii to start production, 'Don't throw away those boxes, because unless he's got another dimension, Sawyer is going to be killed quickly.'"

His personal journey.
"What can I say? My God, I've had so many life-changing experiences since the show has begun. I've gotten married. I've got my first home. We have a beautiful baby daughter. I finally feel validated as an actor. It's just been quite a phenomenal journey."


His secret pleasure.
"I like it when we do group scenes. If you position yourself just right, you're not on camera that much and you get to just cut up and have fun most of the time. I've become quite an artist at positioning myself where I'm mostly just having fun on the set all day. I loved it when I got shot and was unconscious for, like, half a season because I was getting carried everywhere."

Missing those who didn't survive.
"It's been emotionally charged when cast members that you know and care about have gotten killed off or left the show or whatever. So with each person coming back, it's been a blast like, 'We made it to another season.' We have a reunion and laugh about things and have a Mai Tai and hang out on the beach. There was some talk of starting a pool among us to guess who would be killed off each year, but we decided that would be too depressing. It was like, 'Wow, I could be on that list.'"

Wrapping up is hard to do.
"I'm glad I didn't get killed off. There's been a lot of camaraderie on-set as we come to the end. There's a lot of magic like we had during the first season, which was an incredibly magical year. I guess we're experiencing some nostalgia. Evangeline Lilly said that when it was finally over she was going to cry like a baby. I don't know if I'd go that far, but I might."

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