The 23rd Psalm - Production

Production

During the production of "Deus Ex Machina", which introduced the Nigerian airplane, a corpse dressed as a priest with a gun, and Virgin Mary statues filled with heroin, the Lost writers decided that the story of the Beechcraft would coincide with one of the characters' flashbacks. They decided to use one of the tail section characters to be introduced in season 2, "essentially a bad guy who was forced to disguise himself as a priest, and how would that come about, and could he now be presenting himself as a priest". Since Eko and Locke are both spiritual leaders on the island - but with Locke having a "paganistic, ritualistic appreciation" for the island's powers and Eko, "pure religious faith" - writers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof decided to write in this episode parallels with "Deus Ex Machina", where Locke and Boone find the Beechcraft. The biggest similarity is Charlie unwillingly become Eko's "acolyte", just like Boone was being Locke's follower in their expedition to the airplane.

The main theme of "The 23rd Psalm" was redemption, which both Eko and Charlie are seeking, with Eko eventually getting his upon finding his brother. Charlie was chosen to be Eko's companion because the character did not have much screentime up to that point in the season, and the writers found similarities between Charlie and Eko, such as both having difficult relationships with their brothers. The writers accidentally transcribed Psalm 23 wrong, with "the shadow of the valley of death" instead of "the valley of the shadow of death," but decided to keep the mistake, feeling it was appropriate as Eko was never a proper priest.

The flashbacks had the intent of showing that Eko was the opposite of his religious brother, but eventually ended up similar to Yemi. Nigeria's depiction was described by art director Bill Matthews as a "very dusty-dirty brown kind of Nigerian-earth look", with touches such as vendors on the street, and a square where children play soccer. The interior of the church was an actual location in Haleiwa, and a facade was built on the set to match it. While editing, the producers decided to separate a part of the final scene involving the airplane getting attacked and taking off, where a soldier confuses Eko for a priest, to juxtapose with Eko's spiritual epiphany on the island and set up his next flashback on "?", where he is a priest in Australia. As the casting team was having trouble finding a Moroccan to play the drug dealer, set caterer Moumen El Hajji was selected for the role.

As the Monster had not yet appeared in the second season, the producers decided to expand on his mythology in "The 23rd Psalm", as they thought Eko was a good character to confront the Monster because of his spirituality and "self-awareness". Visual effects supervisor Kevin Blank suggested on adding imagery representing Eko's past on the smoke, such a cross and the man he shoots at the opening scene.