Michael Dawson (Lost)

Michael Dawson
Lost character
Harold Perrineau as Michael Dawson
First appearance	"Pilot, Part 1"
Last appearance	"Everybody Loves Hugo"
Portrayed by	Harold Perrineau
Centric episode(s)	"Special" "Exodus, Part 2" "Adrift" "Three Minutes" "Meet Kevin Johnson"
Information
Aliases	Kevin Johnson
Occupation	Construction worker, former artist
Children	Walt Lloyd
Former residence	New York City, New York, United States

Michael Dawson is a fictional character played by Harold Perrineau on the ABC television series Lost. Michael served as an antagonist of the second season. After losing a custody battle with Susan Lloyd (Tamara Taylor), Michael does not see his son Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) for almost ten years. They reunite when she dies, but on their journey home, their plane crashes on a mysterious island in the South Pacific. Here Walt is kidnapped by the Island's previous inhabitants, the Others, and Michael spends his time trying to retrieve him. He is eventually successful, and they leave the Island together, but the guilt over the murders he had to commit to achieve this leads him to an estrangement with his son and a suicide attempt. He returns to the Island on a freighter, but is killed when a bomb on it explodes. Michael reappears as a ghost, and apologizes to Hurley for killing Libby (Cynthia Watros).

Although initially skeptical about the role, Perrineau took it after Lost creator J. J. Abrams told him more about it. Much of the first season arc for Michael was rewritten; he was originally going to be part of a love triangle with Korean couple Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), but positive fan reaction to the couple meant this storyline was dropped. After Michael leaves the Island in season two, Perrineau knew he would return to Lost at some point; he felt there was more to tell of Michael's story. Reception for the character was mixed. However, Perrineau's acting was praised.