Walter "Walt" Lloyd is a fictional character portrayed by Malcolm David Kelley in the American ABC television series Lost. The series follows the lives of over forty survivors of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. Walt is introduced in the pilot episode as one of the survivors aboard the plane, which crashes onto the island where most of the program takes place. He is the 10-year-old son of Michael Dawson (played by Harold Perrineau).
Walt appears in thirty episodes of Lost; 27 in seasons one and two as a series regular, and three more episodes as a guest star. He also features in the Lost epilogue "The New Man in Charge". Throughout the series, he is the only child main character. Initially, Walt and Michael have a dysfunctional father-son relationship, causing Walt to form friendships with other survivors, such as Locke and Sun. Walt leaves the island on a raft with Michael and two other survivors during the episode "Exodus", but is kidnapped by a group of hostile island inhabitants known as the Others. Walt is then released by the Others in the episode "Live Together, Die Alone", who claim that he was "more than [they] could handle",
After the crash
Soon after the crash, Walt is left under the care of different people due to Michael's involvement in helping other survivors—in particular, Walt spends time with John Locke. He is intrigued by Locke's hunting instincts, and constantly tries to sneak away with him, always unsuccessfully. He sneaks away with Locke and Boone, and exhibits a natural talent in knife throwing. Michael soon arrives and is enraged, taking Walt away from them and forbidding him to see Locke again. Walt takes Vincent, the dog, and leaves camp, heading into the jungle, where he encounters a polar bear. He is rescued by Michael and Locke. Later, Walt confesses to burning the original raft, explaining that he did not want to leave the island, but decides they need to leave. The next morning, Walt gives Vincent to Shannon before he leaves on the raft with Michael, Jin and Sawyer. That night, however, they encounter the Others, who kidnap Walt. Walt remains in captivity with the Others, but frequently appears to Shannon. In the mobisode "Room 23" it is revealed Walt posed a greater threat to the Others than they had expected, as he had been doing something unspecified that frightened them so that they would not go in to see him. Ben responds to a particular situation with a blaring alarm and people in commotion, and Juliet suggests that Ben take responsibility of the situation and bring Walt back to Michael.
As Michael is inspecting the technical equipment inside the hatch, he unexpectedly receives a message that he believes is from Walt. Michael is briefly reunited with Walt after he is brought to the Others' camp. Later, Michael returns with Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley, in an exchange for Walt and their freedom. Walt waits in a boat, and he and Michael sail off.
After the island
While off the island, Walt learns that Michael killed Ana-Lucia and Libby and decided to live at his grandmother's house so as not to speak or have anything to do with his father.
In "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham", Walt is shown to be living in New York City. He is visited by Locke, using a wheelchair at that point, having returned from the Island. Locke does not ask Walt to return to the Island as he does with the rest of the Oceanic returnees, as he felt that the boy had been through enough already. In "There's No Place Like Home", after being visited by Locke, Walt visits Hurley at the Santa Rosa Mental Institution with his grandmother. He asks Hurley why the Oceanic Six are lying and is told that they're lying to protect the people left behind on the island. Walt is under the assumption that his father is still alive and living on the island. In "The End", Lost final episode, neither Walt nor Michael feature among the main characters moving on to the afterlife. However, in the 12-minute epilogue to the series, "The New Man in Charge" (included on the DVD box set), Ben and Hurley visit Walt in the mental hospital that Hurley had previously been in. Ben promises Walt he can "help his father," even though they both know Michael is dead. Hurley and Ben take Walt "home" to the Island, where Hurley promises him he will have a "job".
Development
Many children were seen for the role of Walt. They were narrowed down to a top three, with Malcolm David Kelley winning the part after the producers were impressed with his role in the 2002 film Antwone Fisher.
When Kelley was cast, the character of Walt was a 10-year-old boy, but, after two seasons, Kelley no longer looked 10. While the first four seasons move slowly through time and only months have passed on the show, the actual filming stretched over several years. The show's writers dealt with this by sending Michael and Walt away from the island at the end of the second season. In his brief appearance at the end of season three, Kelley is noticeably taller and older with a deeper voice. This fact is acknowledged by Locke in "Confirmed Dead". In the season four episode, "Meet Kevin Johnson", Kelley makes a brief uncredited cameo as Walt in the episode's flashbacks. Make-up and CGI were used to make Kelley look younger and more like a 10-year-old. In the season four finale, "There's No Place Like Home", Walt appears in a flash-forward, but this scene is set about three years after the plane crash, so Kelley's older appearance is not a problem. When asked about the production difficulties associated with Walt and possible appearances of the character in the fourth season, co-creator Damon Lindelof stated: "We've always known Malcolm was going to grow faster than we could shoot the show. And we planned for it. Trust us. Please trust us. You'll see [Walt] again. But you're gonna have to be patient. Sorry."