Libby Smith - Development

Development

American actress Cynthia Watros portrays Libby in around twenty-one episodes of the series. Veteran actress Jennifer Jason Leigh was originally approached to play the character, but Watros ended up playing the role instead. During her audition, Watros did not think she would be cast. When she learned she had been, she was excited since she was a fan of the show and moved with her twin daughters from Los Angeles to Hawaii where Lost is filmed.

Libby was not originally going to be killed off, but since Ana Lucia Cortez was considered an unpopular character, the producers thought her death would not generate enough sympathy from fans. They decided Libby, who was well liked, should also be killed for emotional impact. Additionally the producers and writers ran out of ideas for a compelling storyline for the character. According to Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, the writers did try to develop her story through her romance with Hurley but they ran out of possible avenues for the character. The writers also thought her story was not as dramatic when juxtaposed with the other characters.

A few weeks before Libby was written out of the show, Watros and Michelle Rodriguez were arrested for driving under the influence in Kailua, Hawaii, in two separate incidents. This led fans to speculate that this was the cause of the two characters' deaths in the episode "Two for the Road". The producers denied this claim, and Rodriguez confirmed the producers' comments and denied the relation between their arrests and their characters' deaths. Watros took the news of the death of her character badly and was sad about the decision. The producers felt sorry for her and tried to help her get a new job. She was cast in a pilot for a show on CBS called My Ex-Life, although it was not picked up by the network.

Libby is the only main character not to have a centric episode detailing her life before the crash. The writers said a reason for killing the character was so they could explore her backstory in a mysterious and posthumous way. The producers intended to explore Libby's backstory through flashbacks in the show's third season, and later in the fourth season, although her character did not appear. Although she appeared in "Meet Kevin Johnson", her backstory was not explored. In September 2008, the writers stated her backstory would probably be explored in the fifth season; however, Lindelof revealed in May 2009 her story would not be explored any further, saying, "I have learned that if you kill someone off the show, they are less likely to cooperate with you". The producers said Watros was busy with other commitments, and they could not reveal Libby's story without her.

It is revealed in a deleted scene Libby had been married three times prior to the plane crash and she specializes in marriage counseling. Theories about unknown aspects of her life exist, including assumptions she was once a DHARMA Initiative employee, an Other, a person planted by Desmond's flashback characters Mrs. Hawking and Brother Campbell, or The Lost Experience character Liddy Wales. Her name is also a topic of speculation and is assumed to have appeared on an official website of the show. Her surname was finally revealed as Smith during Comic-Con 2009 in an in memoriam clip show of Lost's major death scenes.

The producers brought the character back to the show in the second half of the final season. About the return of Libby, Cuse stated, "Finally, all of your questions will be answered", however, Lindelof jokingly responded, "No, they will not". Watros said about the reunion with Hurley and Libby in season six: " so sweet and honest. And I think, hopefully, when people see our scenes that they’ll get that feeling, too. are so incredibly real with each other. I was really grateful that I got to play those scenes and Libby got to sort of express herself in ways that she hasn’t been able to."