John Locke (Lost) - Development and Casting

Development and Casting

Lost creator J. J. Abrams had worked with Terry O'Quinn previously on Alias. He was also the only actor who did not have to officially audition for a part of a main character. In the episode "Cabin Fever", two actors play a younger Locke in flashbacks. Charles Wyson plays Locke at age five, while Caleb Steinmeyer plays Locke at age sixteen.

Locke was not originally written with his paralysis - while writing "Tabula Rasa", Damon Lindelof suggested that John Locke was in a wheelchair before going to the island, and while the rest of the writing team were initially shocked, they embraced the idea and decided to foreshadow it by featuring the wheelchair in the background of that episode.

Both John Locke and his alias, Jeremy Bentham, are the names of British philosophers. However, the ideas of these philosophers are unrelated to and in some cases clash with the character on the show. Specifically, Locke's views on religion and the character's affinity for mysticism cannot be reconciled.

The term Tabula Rasa is used as the title of the third episode of the first season. It refers to philosopher John Locke's tabula rasa thesis, an empirical conception that states that all individuals are born with a blank slate and build their bank of knowledge and their identity solely from their experiences and perceptions.