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20 years after its premiere in 2004, Lost still has at least one more mystery to share. There were plenty of questions left hanging over fans at the end of Lost, but there is only one that the showrunners have categorically said they will not answer. No amount of fan outcry or frustration will ever get them to explain who was on that outrigger. It is a secret they are prepared to take to their graves.

That isn’t an exaggeration. Back in 2020, Lost’s showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse revealed that they were willing to answer any question from fans except for who was on the other outrigger in the final season of the show. When asked why this particular question is off-limits, Lindelof explained that it all comes back to The Sopranos. The visceral reaction to that show’s sudden ending was a bit of an eye-opener for the team, forcing them to realize that there is “no way to really do this right if everyone cares so much or puts a level of expectation on the way the show’s gonna end.”

Lindelof and Cuse both took a page out of David Chase’s book for their own approach to dealing with fan expectations of the Lost finale. Chase famously refuses to talk about the ending, and so do they – about the outrigger, at least.

“We feel like we told you everything,” Lindelof explains. “Ask us a question, and we will answer it – or we will provide you with a roadmap to get the answer the show provided… We will answer all those questions except for one, which is the outrigger, and that we will take to our graves.”

That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a definitive answer out there. The Lost showrunners explained that they wrote the scene that explains what the deal with the outrigger is – a scene that has been read by other people. All of whom have been sworn to secrecy until the pair eventually die. So, you only have to wait a few more decades to get the answers you desperately want.

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