In this week's issue of Inside TV with Tyra Banks on the cover, there was an article about why Maggie got killed off of the show.
Forced Off 'Lost'
Move Career aside, rising star Maggie Grace wasn't ready to say goodybye to the hit ABC show - or her castmates
Around the world, fans of Lost were shocked on Nov. 9, when Maggie Grace's character, Shannon, took a bullet in the chest. In the blink of an eye, the 22-year-old actress was erased from the show. "Shannon's dead!" Maggie's costar Dominic Monaghan coolly explained to a reporter the next morning. "There's no way out. If you got shot in the chest on an island with no real medical help, you're gonna croak!"
Some hopeful fans have written to internet chat rooms, voicing their belief that Shannon may have just been killed in a dream sequence. But that's unlikely. It's time to say "aloha" to Shannon. Maggie is really gone.
The end may have come suddenly, but Maggie's abrupt dismissal had been brewing for awhile, Inside TV has learned. Maggie insists that she's leaving the show to pursue her movie career, but in fact she was forced off because many fans hated her nasty-rich-girl character - and because the Lost cast and crew didn't like Maggie all that much.
Maggie's dad, Rick Denig, tells Inside TV: "She's really disappointed. Obviously there's sadness."
Rumors of Maggie's imminent demise have been swirling since last spring, when Shannon's brother, Boone (Ian Somerhalder), was killed when he climbed into a mysterious plane caught in trees and it crashed to the ground. Plenty of Lost aficianados were cheering for her to bite the dust. "Maggie has had the difficult task of playing the mean character," Lost executive producer Carlton Cuse said recently. "That has sometimes been at the cost of of the audience's sympathy."
But Maggie has also caused some real life tension on the Lost set. "No one was sorry to see her go," a show source tells Inside TV.
Things have only gotten worse in Season 2, as writers and producers have gradually but firmly pushed her character off of center stage. "She was growing increasingly unhappy because she felt the show was moving away from her character," the source says. "She didn't see a bright future for Shannon."
Maggie, 22, has also tired of shooting in Hawaii. After castmate Josh Holloway (Sawyer) was robbed at gunpoint in his Honolulu home last month,"she freaked out"," the source says. "She overreacted and made a big deal out of being in danger and needing special security." Living in Honolulu also kept Maggie away from L.A. and th movie roles she wants to audition for. "I love it in Hawaii," she said just last month, "but it's not a place where you can really pursue acting."
Now Maggie has plenty of time for auditions - and thanks to Lost she's getting calls for them. "Suddenly I'm getting all these scripts," she says. "Really cool movies."Maggie has her first lead in the horror movie The Fog which opened Oct. 16 in first place at the box office. Over the summer, there was some talk that she would play the superhero Shadowcat in next year's X-Men 3, though the role eventually went to another actress, Ellen Page.
Now Maggie is weighing other offers. "She's excited to move on." Rick Denig tells Inside TV.
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