Why Lost Killed Off Paulo & Nikki So Soon

screenrant.com:

Though Lost had set them up to be major characters, Nikki and Paulo met early deaths in the ABC series. Played by Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro respectively, Nikki and Paulo joinedLost in season 3 as previously unseen survivors of the Flight 815 crash. The two actors, who were both listed as series regulars, never made any additional appearances after the deaths of their characters.

Despite the fact that dozens survived the crash, Lost only told the stories of a select number of people stranded on the island. Lost season 3 attempted to highlight some of the other characters sharing their journey by introducing Nikki and Paulo and giving them relevancy. Through a large portion of the season, the two joined up with Hurley, Charlie, Locke, and more across several of their adventures on the island. Later, Lost delved into their backstories by giving them a flashback episode, titled “Exposé”. But instead of using it to build toward greater roles in Lost's story, the show ended the episode with the main characters burying them alive, unaware that Nikki and Paulo – who turned out to be con artists – had been secretly paralyzed by medusa spiders.

Related: Lost: How Eloise Knew So Much About The Island

The decision to kill off Nikki and Paulo so soon can be attributed to the overwhelmingly negative responses to the characters. Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof has acknowledged in the past that the two were hated by the fans since there was a perception that the two new members of the group were “crashing the party”. According to Lindelof, the easiest way to fix this issue would have been to write them out, but it was decided that they should “at least own up to it” [via TV Guide]. So instead of pretending they didn’t exist, the