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There are few actors who could have convincingly portrayed stalwart and conflicted doctor Jack Shephard in ABC’s legendary drama Lost. Yet from 2004 all the way until the show breathed its last in 2010, actor Matthew Fox held the proverbial line as the good doctor, convincing viewers to come along for a twisty and mind-blowing adventure on a mysterious island with him as the Jack London-like Man of Action. And you know something? Fox totally nailed every blessed note of that character and we all followed along slack-jawed at the actor’s steadfastness; his journey became our journey and when the final scene unspooled on our collective television sets across the globe and Jack Shephard closed his eyes for the final time (a poignant call-back to the pilot episode of the show), there could be little doubt that we had just witnessed the performance of a lifetime given by an actor at the very height of his powers. Where can an actor – no matter how accomplished – possibly go from there?
For Matthew Fox, the answer was pretty straightforward: Retirement. Though he squeezed out a few projects after the completion of Lost (World War Z, Bone Tomahawk) and dealt with some simmering personal issues which briefly made the tabloid pages, Fox has been retired from the world of acting since 2014. So what in the world could possibly drag the Party of Five actor back into the harsh light of Hollywood? Turns out all he needed was to be offered a lead role in the upcoming Peacock thriller series Last Light to eschew any sort of acting hiatus.
According to our pals over at Variety, Last Light is about a renowned petro-chemical engineer (Fox) who is tasked with tackling a worldwide oil shortage while simultaneously attempting to rescue his embattled family.
Speaking at a press conference in Monte Carlo this past Saturday, Fox related to visiting journalists how after Lost had ended he had devised a bucket list of projects he wanted to do. Once that list had been checked off, he assumed his days behind the camera were a thing of the past. Luckily for us, he was wrong.
“I kind of got to the point where I thought that maybe the bucket list included executive producing,” Fox explained, pointing out that along with being offered the lead role in Last Light, producers had also approached him about possibly executive producing the new series. “I’d never done that before. The opportunity to be involved in Last Light came along, and so I wanted to give it a shot. And it felt like the right time.”
It feels like the right time for us too, Mr. Fox, and welcome back to the party.
No specific release date for Peacock’s Last Light, though word ‘round campfire has it as bowing to audiences sometime in 2022; stay tuned!
