Charles Widmore
Encyclopedia
Charles Widmore is a fictional character
on the ABC
television series Lost
, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific
. He is primarily portrayed as an older man by Alan Dale
; Tom Connolly and David S. Lee portray him as a young and middle-aged man, respectively.
Charles is a member of the island's native population, the Others, and serves as their leader until he is banished from the island. He is the father of Penelope Widmore (Sonya Walger
) and Daniel Faraday
(Jeremy Davies
), although he is estranged from both of them. The character is first introduced in the second season finale
as a wealthy industrialist, who disapproves of the relationship between his daughter and Desmond Hume
(Henry Ian Cusick
). After being mostly depicted in Desmond's flashbacks, his role expanded throughout the fourth season, where he was introduced as one of the primary antagonists of the show.
Alan Dale has received praise for his performance, and critics have also responded positively to the mystery surrounding the character.
), Juliet Burke
(Elizabeth Mitchell
), and John Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
). He communicates in Latin with his associate, which is foiled when Juliet reveals what they're saying, having been similarly educated in Latin as part of her training as a doctor and an Other. When Juliet convinces his associate to bring them to Richard Alpert
(Nestor Carbonell
), Charles kills the associate and takes off into the jungle. Locke follows him and is held at gunpoint by Charles until Richard orders him to stand down.
In 1977, Ben Linus, at the time a twelve-year-old boy living with the Dharma Initiative
, is brought to the Others to be healed. Richard allows the boy to be healed, despite knowing that Charles will not be pleased with his decision, stating that he does not answer to Charles. Charles, who is now the Others' leader, later visits Ben and informs him that he is now an Other, even though he must go back to living with his abusive father at the Dharma Initiative. Sometime after this incident, Charles and Eloise Hawking (Alice Evans
) have a child, Daniel Faraday
(Jeremy Davies
), who is raised off-island.
As he grows older, Charles begins to fall out of favor with the Others. In 1988, he orders the execution of Danielle Rousseau
, to be carried out by Ben. Ben is unable to kill Rousseau when he discovers that she has recently given birth. Ben abducts the infant, Alex
, without killing Danielle, and returns to the Others. Charles is furious, having expected Ben to kill both Danielle and the child. Ben claims that Charles isn't following Jacob's will, and forces him to back down by insisting he kill Alex personally.
In 1992, following increased conflict between the Others and the Dharma Initiative, the Others purge the island of the Dharma folk by releasing poisonous gas at Dharma's barracks. The Others subsequently move into the barracks. It is during this time that Charles is banished from the island as punishment for repeatedly leaving the island and fathering a child, Penelope "Penny" Widmore (Sonya Walger
), with an "outsider." Charles tells Ben, the Others' new leader, that one day he would have to choose between Alex, now his adopted daughter, and the island.
(Henry Ian Cusick
) having a relationship with his daughter. In 1996, Desmond seeks Charles's permission to ask for Penny's hand in marriage. Charles refuses after humiliating Desmond by stating Desmond is not even worthy enough to drink his expensive whiskey. Years later, upon Desmond's release from military prison, Charles confronts him and reveals that he has intercepted every letter Desmond wrote to Penny while in prison, causing Penny to believe Desmond no longer cares for her. Charles offers Desmond a large amount of cash to never have contact with his daughter again; Desmond refuses the money.
Charles spends most of his time since his banishment searching for a way to return to the island. In 2004, Oceanic Airlines Flight 815
crashes on the island and Charles plants fake wreckage of the plane in the Sunda Trench, so that no one will find out that it really crashed on the island. Charles eventually relocates the island after the large discharge of electromagnetism, caused by the destruction of the Swan station, is detected by scientists working for him. Charles hires a team to travel to the island on a freighter, the Kahana. The team consists of scientific personnel — Daniel Faraday, Charlotte Lewis
(Rebecca Mader
), and Miles Straume
(Ken Leung
) — and a mercenary team led by Martin Keamy
(Kevin Durand
). Their primary mission is to capture Ben Linus, with the secondary objective of "torching" the island by killing all of its other inhabitants. Following the mercenaries' failure to capture him, Ben moves the island, forcing him to leave it as well. Charles is subsequently visited by Ben, who claims that he will kill Penny, in retribution for Keamy killing Alex on the island.
In 2007, John Locke, having left the island, is located by Charles, who explains that a war is coming for the island and that Locke must help him ensure that the "wrong side" doesn't win. He enlists the help of his associate Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick
) to assist Locke in reuniting the "Oceanic Six", six survivors of Flight 815 who also left the island, to bring them back. During this time, Charles also has meetings with Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim), in which they both agree upon the necessity of murdering Ben Linus, and Desmond, who demands Eloise Hawking's address. Charles complies, and asks him to return to hiding and not get involved with the island, for Penny's sake. However, Desmond inadvertently leads Ben to Penny when he visits Eloise (Fionnula Flanagan). He is shot by Ben, who is unable to kill Penny after noticing that she and Desmond have a child. Charles goes to the hospital where Desmond is being treated and speaks with Eloise, though he does not visit his daughter. He mentions sacrificing his son Daniel
as well
After being exiled for 20 years, Widmore finally returns to the Island in a submarine when he gives orders to "proceed as planned" in spite of the group of people on the beach being spotted by said submarine.
His team captures Sawyer and escorts him to his submarine, docked at the second island adjacent to the main one. Charles is seemingly surprised when Sawyer tells him that Locke sent him to this second island - he says Locke is dead, which Sawyer confirms. Sawyer then proposes that he return to the other Island, lie to "Locke" that the coast is clear, bring him back to this island, and walk him into Charles' trap. Charles agrees. Charles then gets his crew to abduct Jin
from Locke's camp in order to insure that he had leverage over The Man in Black
so he couldn't leave the Island. It is then revealed that Widmore brought Desmond back to the Island in order to do a specific task. He puts him in a crate that expels vast amounts of electromagnetic energy, and Desmond wakes up in the alternate timeline. When Desmond returns, he tells Widmore he knows exactly what he has to do. Widmore is later confronted by the Man in Black, who gives him a choice: either he tell the Man in Black why he returned to the island, or the Man in Black would hunt down and kill Penny upon returning to the mainland. After apparently deciding to help, he is shot and killed by Ben, who explains, "He doesn't get to save his daughter." The Man in Black then tells Ben that Widmore had already told him everything he needed to know.
constructed to reunite the various characters. In the purgatorial universe inhabited by the characters after their deaths, Widmore is married to Eloise and has a hand in raising his son Daniel. As seen in "Happily Ever After
", Desmond works directly under Charles and is respected by him, going so much as to give him some of his sixty-year-old McCutcheon scotch. He instructs Desmond to pick up Charlie Pace
since his band DriveShaft is to play with his son in a charity event. Desmond does this unsuccessfully since Charlie runs his car into the water. Widmore then asks Desmond to explain his failure to get DriveShaft to play to his wife. Eloise notices Desmond's growing awareness of his original life, and pleads with him to cease his efforts to learn more of it. In the series finale, "The End
", she pleads again that he not take Daniel away from her, which Desmond relieves her he has no intention of doing. While the other main characters "move on", the Widmores continue to exist as a family in this universe.
", where a sign with Widmore Construction appears on the back of a building. The name appears again four episodes later in "The Whole Truth
"; Sun's pregnancy test is made by Widmore Laboratories. In the season two finale "Live Together, Die Alone
", Charles Widmore and his daughter Penelope are introduced. Alan Dale
was a regular on ABC
's Ugly Betty
, when he was asked to appear on the show. Dale made his first appearance on the show in a single scene of the second season finale "Live Together, Die Alone
". Dale's publicist was initially worried that Widmore would become a starring role, meaning it would be hard for Dale to appear in both Lost and Ugly Betty at the same time. In 2008, Dale was asked to return to Oahu, Hawaii, where filming took place, but he was unable due to his commitment to the Monty Python
musical Spamalot
. He suspected the producers would recast the role or bring in a new character, but much to his surprise, they came to London
to include Dale in the filming anyway.
wrote that, because of Dale's portrayal, "Widmore is far from the one-dimensional bad guy, as a certain degree of humanity has shone through". Eric Goldman from IGN
enjoyed Dale's introduction in "Live Together, Die Alone" but found it "odd" to see Dale in Lost, having been watching The O.C.
on DVD, which features Dale as Caleb Nichol
. The Chicago Tribune
s Maureen Ryan thought it was "cool" to see Alan Dale in this role, and speculated of Widmore's connection to the island.
Many reviewers were unsurprised at the revelation that Widmore sent the freighter to the island. Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV
had difficulty taking Widmore seriously, as seeing Dale made him think of Dale's role in The O.C., and he did not find the reveal that Widmore sent the freighter to be a shock. Tim Goodman from the San Francisco Chronicle
was also not surprised by the reveal and found it uncompelling. James Poniewozik from Time
was hopeful of a more interesting dynamic between Ben and Widmore following the reveal, as Widmore's quest for the island seemed disappointing.
Dan Kois and Lane Brown of New York
magazine were unsure how they felt about Widmore and Ben's meeting in "The Shape of Things to Come". They initially found it "ridiculous" felt it had too much dialogue, but they liked the "canny and confusing" reversal of the clichéd discussions between heroes and villains because they were unsure of who was the villain and who was the hero.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
. He is primarily portrayed as an older man by Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
; Tom Connolly and David S. Lee portray him as a young and middle-aged man, respectively.
Charles is a member of the island's native population, the Others, and serves as their leader until he is banished from the island. He is the father of Penelope Widmore (Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger is an English actress known for her roles in the ABC series Lost as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, and as Olivia Benford on ABC's FlashForward.-Education:...
) and Daniel Faraday
Daniel Faraday
Dr. Daniel Faraday, often referred to as Dan or simply by his surname, Faraday, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jeremy Davies. Faraday is introduced in the season four premiere as a physicist, suffering from memory loss, and is part of the team aboard the ...
(Jeremy Davies
Jeremy Davies
Father Jeremy Davies , an English Roman Catholic priest whose parish is based around Old Hall Green, is a former doctor and also a leading exorcist....
), although he is estranged from both of them. The character is first introduced in the second season finale
Live Together, Die Alone
"Live Together, Die Alone" is the second season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 23rd and 24th episodes of the second season. It is also the 48th and 49th episodes overall. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and directed by Jack Bender. It first...
as a wealthy industrialist, who disapproves of the relationship between his daughter and Desmond Hume
Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
(Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
). After being mostly depicted in Desmond's flashbacks, his role expanded throughout the fourth season, where he was introduced as one of the primary antagonists of the show.
Alan Dale has received praise for his performance, and critics have also responded positively to the mystery surrounding the character.
Before exile
Charles Widmore is originally seen as a 17-year-old Other in 1954, where he is captured with one of his people, by James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh HollowayJosh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
), Juliet Burke
Juliet Burke
Dr. Juliet Burke is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Her character was introduced in the third season premiere.- Prior to arrival on the island :...
(Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell , is an American actress/modelwho is known for her roles as Dr. Juliet Burke on ABC's TV series Lost and as FBI agent Erica Evans on V. She has starred in such films as The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and Gia.-Early life:Mitchell was born Elizabeth...
), and John Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
). He communicates in Latin with his associate, which is foiled when Juliet reveals what they're saying, having been similarly educated in Latin as part of her training as a doctor and an Other. When Juliet convinces his associate to bring them to Richard Alpert
Richard Alpert (Lost)
Ricardo "Richard" Alpert is a fictional character played by Nestor Carbonell in the American ABC television series Lost. Alpert is introduced in a flashback of the character Juliet Burke , where he claims to be a doctor for a bioscience company called Mittelos Bioscience; he is later revealed to...
(Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Gastón Carbonell is an American actor, known for portraying Richard Alpert in ABC's drama Lost and Mayor Anthony Garcia in the film The Dark Knight...
), Charles kills the associate and takes off into the jungle. Locke follows him and is held at gunpoint by Charles until Richard orders him to stand down.
In 1977, Ben Linus, at the time a twelve-year-old boy living with the Dharma Initiative
DHARMA Initiative
The Dharma Initiative, also written DHARMA , was a fictional research project featured in the television series Lost. It was introduced in the second season episode "Orientation". In 2008, the Dharma Initiative website was launched. Dharma's interests were directly connected with fringe science...
, is brought to the Others to be healed. Richard allows the boy to be healed, despite knowing that Charles will not be pleased with his decision, stating that he does not answer to Charles. Charles, who is now the Others' leader, later visits Ben and informs him that he is now an Other, even though he must go back to living with his abusive father at the Dharma Initiative. Sometime after this incident, Charles and Eloise Hawking (Alice Evans
Alice Evans
Alice Jane Evans is an American-born English actress.-Early life:Evans, the daughter of educators and the granddaughter of a coal miner, was born in New Jersey, USA and grew up in Bristol, England. She graduated from University College London with a 2:1 in French and Italian.-Career:After...
) have a child, Daniel Faraday
Daniel Faraday
Dr. Daniel Faraday, often referred to as Dan or simply by his surname, Faraday, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jeremy Davies. Faraday is introduced in the season four premiere as a physicist, suffering from memory loss, and is part of the team aboard the ...
(Jeremy Davies
Jeremy Davies (actor)
Jeremy Davies is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying the interpreter Cpl. Timothy E. Upham in the film Saving Private Ryan and the physicist Daniel Faraday on the television series Lost. He most recently appeared in the FX series, Justified, as Dickie Bennett.-Early...
), who is raised off-island.
As he grows older, Charles begins to fall out of favor with the Others. In 1988, he orders the execution of Danielle Rousseau
Danielle Rousseau
Danielle Rousseau 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. Croatian actress Mira Furlan plays the scientist who shipwrecks on the island sixteen...
, to be carried out by Ben. Ben is unable to kill Rousseau when he discovers that she has recently given birth. Ben abducts the infant, Alex
Alex (Lost)
Alexandra "Alex" Linus is a recurring fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Tania Raymonde. She was born 16 years prior to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, but was taken from her mother, Danielle Rousseau by the Others. She was raised among them, believing her mother to...
, without killing Danielle, and returns to the Others. Charles is furious, having expected Ben to kill both Danielle and the child. Ben claims that Charles isn't following Jacob's will, and forces him to back down by insisting he kill Alex personally.
In 1992, following increased conflict between the Others and the Dharma Initiative, the Others purge the island of the Dharma folk by releasing poisonous gas at Dharma's barracks. The Others subsequently move into the barracks. It is during this time that Charles is banished from the island as punishment for repeatedly leaving the island and fathering a child, Penelope "Penny" Widmore (Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger is an English actress known for her roles in the ABC series Lost as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, and as Olivia Benford on ABC's FlashForward.-Education:...
), with an "outsider." Charles tells Ben, the Others' new leader, that one day he would have to choose between Alex, now his adopted daughter, and the island.
After exile
Charles is opposed to Desmond HumeDesmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
(Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
) having a relationship with his daughter. In 1996, Desmond seeks Charles's permission to ask for Penny's hand in marriage. Charles refuses after humiliating Desmond by stating Desmond is not even worthy enough to drink his expensive whiskey. Years later, upon Desmond's release from military prison, Charles confronts him and reveals that he has intercepted every letter Desmond wrote to Penny while in prison, causing Penny to believe Desmond no longer cares for her. Charles offers Desmond a large amount of cash to never have contact with his daughter again; Desmond refuses the money.
Charles spends most of his time since his banishment searching for a way to return to the island. In 2004, Oceanic Airlines Flight 815
Oceanic Airlines
Oceanic Airlines and less frequently Oceanic Airways are fictional airlines used in several films and television programs.The most famous use of this brand is in the TV show Lost, where Oceanic Airlines is featured branded with a highly-stylized logo depicting an Aboriginal dot painting that...
crashes on the island and Charles plants fake wreckage of the plane in the Sunda Trench, so that no one will find out that it really crashed on the island. Charles eventually relocates the island after the large discharge of electromagnetism, caused by the destruction of the Swan station, is detected by scientists working for him. Charles hires a team to travel to the island on a freighter, the Kahana. The team consists of scientific personnel — Daniel Faraday, Charlotte Lewis
Charlotte Lewis
Charlotte Lewis is an English actress.-Career:Charlotte Lewis made her film debut as a teenager in the 1986 Roman Polanski film Pirates. She followed it that same year with the female lead in The Golden Child alongside Eddie Murphy. Later appearances include the film Tripwire and Storyville...
(Rebecca Mader
Rebecca Mader
Rebecca Leigh Mader is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Morgan Gordon on All My Children and Charlotte Lewis on Lost.-Career:...
), and Miles Straume
Miles Straume
Miles Straume is a fictional character played by Ken Leung on the ABC television series Lost. Miles is introduced early in the fourth season as a hotheaded and sarcastic medium as a crew member aboard the freighter called the Kahana that is offshore the island where most of Lost takes place...
(Ken Leung
Ken Leung
Kenneth "Ken" Leung is an American actor best known for his role as Miles Straume in the ABC television series Lost and roles in such films as Shanghai Kiss, Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Saw.-Early life:...
) — and a mercenary team led by Martin Keamy
Martin Keamy
First Sergeant Martin Christopher Keamy is a recurring fictional character played by Kevin Durand in the fourth season and sixth season of the American ABC television series Lost. Keamy is introduced in the fifth episode of the fourth season as a crew member aboard the freighter called the Kahana...
(Kevin Durand
Kevin Durand
Kevin Serge Durand is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Joshua in Dark Angel, Martin Keamy in Lost, Fred J. Dukes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Archangel Gabriel in Legion, and Little John in Robin Hood....
). Their primary mission is to capture Ben Linus, with the secondary objective of "torching" the island by killing all of its other inhabitants. Following the mercenaries' failure to capture him, Ben moves the island, forcing him to leave it as well. Charles is subsequently visited by Ben, who claims that he will kill Penny, in retribution for Keamy killing Alex on the island.
In 2007, John Locke, having left the island, is located by Charles, who explains that a war is coming for the island and that Locke must help him ensure that the "wrong side" doesn't win. He enlists the help of his associate Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
) to assist Locke in reuniting the "Oceanic Six", six survivors of Flight 815 who also left the island, to bring them back. During this time, Charles also has meetings with Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim), in which they both agree upon the necessity of murdering Ben Linus, and Desmond, who demands Eloise Hawking's address. Charles complies, and asks him to return to hiding and not get involved with the island, for Penny's sake. However, Desmond inadvertently leads Ben to Penny when he visits Eloise (Fionnula Flanagan). He is shot by Ben, who is unable to kill Penny after noticing that she and Desmond have a child. Charles goes to the hospital where Desmond is being treated and speaks with Eloise, though he does not visit his daughter. He mentions sacrificing his son Daniel
Daniel Faraday
Dr. Daniel Faraday, often referred to as Dan or simply by his surname, Faraday, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jeremy Davies. Faraday is introduced in the season four premiere as a physicist, suffering from memory loss, and is part of the team aboard the ...
as well
After being exiled for 20 years, Widmore finally returns to the Island in a submarine when he gives orders to "proceed as planned" in spite of the group of people on the beach being spotted by said submarine.
His team captures Sawyer and escorts him to his submarine, docked at the second island adjacent to the main one. Charles is seemingly surprised when Sawyer tells him that Locke sent him to this second island - he says Locke is dead, which Sawyer confirms. Sawyer then proposes that he return to the other Island, lie to "Locke" that the coast is clear, bring him back to this island, and walk him into Charles' trap. Charles agrees. Charles then gets his crew to abduct Jin
Jin-Soo Kwon
Jin-Soo Kwon, better known as "Jin," is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Daniel Dae Kim.- Prior to the crash :...
from Locke's camp in order to insure that he had leverage over The Man in Black
Man in Black (Lost)
The entity referred to most frequently as the Man in Black is a fictional character on the American ABC television series Lost, and is the main antagonist of the...
so he couldn't leave the Island. It is then revealed that Widmore brought Desmond back to the Island in order to do a specific task. He puts him in a crate that expels vast amounts of electromagnetic energy, and Desmond wakes up in the alternate timeline. When Desmond returns, he tells Widmore he knows exactly what he has to do. Widmore is later confronted by the Man in Black, who gives him a choice: either he tell the Man in Black why he returned to the island, or the Man in Black would hunt down and kill Penny upon returning to the mainland. After apparently deciding to help, he is shot and killed by Ben, who explains, "He doesn't get to save his daughter." The Man in Black then tells Ben that Widmore had already told him everything he needed to know.
Afterlife
Season six of the series shows, concurrent with the main drama, a secondary narrative in what appears to be a parallel timeline. In the series finale, however, this is revealed to be a form of purgatoryPurgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
constructed to reunite the various characters. In the purgatorial universe inhabited by the characters after their deaths, Widmore is married to Eloise and has a hand in raising his son Daniel. As seen in "Happily Ever After
Happily Ever After (Lost)
"Happily Ever After" is the 11th television episode of the American Broadcasting Company's sixth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 114th episode overall. The episode was aired on April 6, 2010 on ABC in the United States. The episode was written by showrunners and executive...
", Desmond works directly under Charles and is respected by him, going so much as to give him some of his sixty-year-old McCutcheon scotch. He instructs Desmond to pick up Charlie Pace
Charlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
since his band DriveShaft is to play with his son in a charity event. Desmond does this unsuccessfully since Charlie runs his car into the water. Widmore then asks Desmond to explain his failure to get DriveShaft to play to his wife. Eloise notices Desmond's growing awareness of his original life, and pleads with him to cease his efforts to learn more of it. In the series finale, "The End
The End (Lost)
"The End" is the series finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 17th and 18th episodes of season 6. It is also the 120th and 121st episodes overall...
", she pleads again that he not take Daniel away from her, which Desmond relieves her he has no intention of doing. While the other main characters "move on", the Widmores continue to exist as a family in this universe.
Development
The name Widmore is introduced in the twelfth episode of season two, "Fire + WaterFire and Water (Lost)
"Fire + Water" is the 37th episode of Lost. It is the 12th episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Jack Bender, and written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. It first aired on January 25, 2006 on ABC...
", where a sign with Widmore Construction appears on the back of a building. The name appears again four episodes later in "The Whole Truth
The Whole Truth (Lost)
"The Whole Truth" is the 41st episode of Lost. It is the 16th episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Karen Gaviola, and written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Christina M. Kim. It first aired on March 22, 2006 on ABC...
"; Sun's pregnancy test is made by Widmore Laboratories. In the season two finale "Live Together, Die Alone
Live Together, Die Alone
"Live Together, Die Alone" is the second season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 23rd and 24th episodes of the second season. It is also the 48th and 49th episodes overall. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and directed by Jack Bender. It first...
", Charles Widmore and his daughter Penelope are introduced. Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
was a regular on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
, when he was asked to appear on the show. Dale made his first appearance on the show in a single scene of the second season finale "Live Together, Die Alone
Live Together, Die Alone
"Live Together, Die Alone" is the second season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 23rd and 24th episodes of the second season. It is also the 48th and 49th episodes overall. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and directed by Jack Bender. It first...
". Dale's publicist was initially worried that Widmore would become a starring role, meaning it would be hard for Dale to appear in both Lost and Ugly Betty at the same time. In 2008, Dale was asked to return to Oahu, Hawaii, where filming took place, but he was unable due to his commitment to the Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
musical Spamalot
Spamalot
Monty Python's Spamalot is a musical comedy "lovingly ripped off from" the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many ways, especially in its parodies of Broadway theatre...
. He suspected the producers would recast the role or bring in a new character, but much to his surprise, they came to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to include Dale in the filming anyway.
Reception
Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital SpyDigital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
wrote that, because of Dale's portrayal, "Widmore is far from the one-dimensional bad guy, as a certain degree of humanity has shone through". Eric Goldman from IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
enjoyed Dale's introduction in "Live Together, Die Alone" but found it "odd" to see Dale in Lost, having been watching The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
on DVD, which features Dale as Caleb Nichol
Caleb Nichol
Caleb Nichol is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Alan Dale during the show's first and second seasons...
. The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
s Maureen Ryan thought it was "cool" to see Alan Dale in this role, and speculated of Widmore's connection to the island.
Many reviewers were unsurprised at the revelation that Widmore sent the freighter to the island. Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
had difficulty taking Widmore seriously, as seeing Dale made him think of Dale's role in The O.C., and he did not find the reveal that Widmore sent the freighter to be a shock. Tim Goodman from the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
was also not surprised by the reveal and found it uncompelling. James Poniewozik from Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
was hopeful of a more interesting dynamic between Ben and Widmore following the reveal, as Widmore's quest for the island seemed disappointing.
Dan Kois and Lane Brown of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine were unsure how they felt about Widmore and Ben's meeting in "The Shape of Things to Come". They initially found it "ridiculous" felt it had too much dialogue, but they liked the "canny and confusing" reversal of the clichéd discussions between heroes and villains because they were unsure of who was the villain and who was the hero.