Michael Emerson Is Ready to Rewatch “Lost” Again Now That a 'Whole New Generation Is Engaged with It' (Exclusive)

Nearly 15 years since Lost ended its six-season run on May 23, 2010, Michael Emerson is ready to revisit the highly watched, much talked-about and often debated series about a disparate group of plane crash passengers struggling to survive on a mysterious island.

On the show created by Jeffrey Lieber, J. J. Abrams, and Damon Lindelof and starring an ensemble cast including Matthew Fox, Terry O'Quinn, Evangeline Lilly and others, Emerson played Benjamin Linus, a cryptic island inhabitant who first appeared in season 2 before becoming a beloved TV villain and a memorable addition to the pop culture zeitgeist at the time.

While speaking to PEOPLE about his guest-starring role on wife Carrie Preston's CBS series, Elsbeth, the 70-year-old actor said he's ready to revisit his time on the hit ABC drama.

"I need to go back and watch Lost. It's streaming now and a whole new generation is engaged with it," Emerson says, referring to the fact that the series is available on Hulu, but also joined Netflix in 2024.

"And they're stopping me on the street and they know way more of the details than I do," he continues. "You know, people know the titles of episodes or the sequences of numbers of episodes. And so, I feel a little left out. And so, I think I better freshen up a little bit."

The actor is not the only one interested in revisiting Lost, with Preston, 57, revealing that she wants to binge her husband's series again. Admitting that she "thought it was brilliant," Preston says, "My nephews recently rewatched Lost and so it's making me wanna rewatch his show." In fact, "there's enough time where we don't remember that much about it, you know?" she notes.

While Preston went on to guest star on season 3, appearing as Ben's mother, Emily Linus, in "The Man Behind the Curtain" before landing her breakout role as Arlene Fowler on True Blood, she was a fan of Lost from the beginning. So much so that Emerson teased her about it.

"I was a fan of the show before Michael joined it," she says. "I watched all of season 1 and he would tease me about it because he hadn't been watching it and I would be like, 'You cannot talk to me while the show's on TV.' He's like, 'What is this? What is this show? It's so cheesy.' I'm like, 'Get out of the room. Go, go, go!' "

"So I was in from day one. I was totally invested until the end," the former Claws star continues, expressing her appreciation for the widely discussed series finale, which left many viewers divided over the conclusion. "I was not a hater. I thought it was beautifully constructed and I liked that it had mystery and it had allegory and I thought it was a very brave thing to do on a network TV show."

Referring to how it became a hot topic among fans, she says, "I was game for it and loved the idea that we had to talk about it. It wasn't just something that was tidy and tied up in a bow."

Reflecting on the series finale, Emerson, who won a supporting actor Emmy for his performance on season 5's "Dead Is Dead," says now, "I thought and continued to think that it was a fine and moving ending."

The actor adds, "I have an explanation for it. It takes three or four minutes but I'm prepared to rattle it off to everybody who stops me on the avenue and says, 'I loved your show but I hated the ending.' "

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