A surprising factor may have led to Boone Carlyle's exit on Lost

ABC's Lost was phenomenal in creating and developing characters fans gravitated towards in its six-year flight. With its mystifying lore in its plot, there's no question why Lost is one of the most celebrated shows in the television landscape. Each episode had something new to offer while propelling us onto the island to further unveil its secrets.

But Lost wasn't soft when it decided to give their characters their individual farewells, and I'm not talking about the series finale, but the deaths that occurred throughout the years.

During season one, fan-favorite Boone Carlyle, a rather conflicted but serious wealthy young man portrayed by Ian Somerhalder, was killed off by falling under the accompaniment of John Locke (Terry O'Quinn). It was the series' first significant death, and twenty years after Lost's start, it still has an impact. With the show's arrival on Netflix this month, the sci-fi survival will indeed bring in new fans while having longtime ones relive Lost's unique structure.

Years after his exit, Somerhalder provided a theory to why Boone had a short life on the show and it has to do with emotional projection, or lack thereof.

What Ian Somerhalder revealed about Boone Carlyle's exit from Lost

According to a 2015 report by the Chicago Tribune, Somerhalder disclosed the secret of why his character Boone was killed off. The actor attended the now-defunct Wizard World convention in the Windy City and discussed Boone's fate. If Somerhalder had done this one thing, it might've saved his character's life.

"I often think back to why they killed me on Lost. People like to see conflicted people, but through humor. Humor is a medicine for pain. It’s a Band-Aid. Boone, unfortunately, and this was my fault as an actor, Boone was a little [jerk]. Boone was a spoiled, rich little b*stard who couldn’t smile to save his life."

The actor and the rest of Lost's large ensemble cast resided on the Hawaiian Islands while filming the show, and Somerhalder couldn't help but reflect on the memories while tying in his real-life persona with that of Boone.

"I’m pretty funny, as far as my friends go. They say I’m typically a pretty funny person. Why on earth, living in Hawaii, having so much fun, skinny dipping with our cast three days a week, why didn’t Boone [freaking] smile more?"

While Lost had lost one of its core characters early on, Somerhalder found additional success on the long-running CW fantasy supernatural series The Vampire Diaries as the vampire Damon Salvatore. Like the relationship elements of Lost, The Vampire Diaries formulated its own love triangles between its characters. However, Somerhalder took a lesson from his time on Lost and incorporated it into his role in The Vampire Diaries. He did absorb some helpful inspiration from his fellow cast member, Josh Holloway, who starred as James Sawyer on the ABC show.

Somerhalder incorporated some of Sawyer's fun character points into Damon so the "soapy teen vampire drama" could have more of a "fun edge."

All six seasons of Lost are currently streaming on Netflix.