Walt Lloyd

Walt Lloyd

Walter "Walt" Lloyd is a fictional character portrayed by Malcolm David Kelley in the American ABC television series Lost. The series follows the lives of over forty survivors of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. Walt is introduced in the pilot episode as one of the survivors aboard the plane, which crashes onto the island where most of the programme takes place. He is the 10-year-old son of Michael Dawson (played by Harold Perrineau).

Walt appears in thirty episodes of Lost; 27 in seasons one and two as a series regular, and three more episodes as a guest star. He also features in the Lost epilogue "The New Man in Charge". Throughout the series, he is the only child main character. Initially, Walt and Michael have a dysfunctional father-son relationship, causing Walt to form friendships with other survivors, such as Locke and Sun. Walt leaves the island on a raft with Michael and two other survivors during the episode "Exodus", but is kidnapped by a group of hostile island inhabitants known as the Others. Walt is then released by the Others in the episode "Live Together, Die Alone", who claim that he was "more than could handle", and he and Michael leave the island at the end of season two.

When originally developed, Lost's creators intended for Walt to display supernatural powers, such as the ability to summon animals through telepathy, but when Kelley had aged significantly for him to no longer convincingly look ten years old, the character's arc was changed and Walt was written out of the show. After auditioning many children for the part, Kelley was hired by the programme's producers, who had been impressed by his performance in the 2002 film Antwone Fisher.