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Posted 4/7/2005 12:30 AM Updated 4/6/2005 11:34 PM

Death for Boone, birth for Claire on 'Lost'
By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY
This island really is dangerous.

Somerhalder: Boone may not be only death this season.
ABC

As if to underline the deadly serious stakes, first-year hit Lost killed off one of its 14 regular characters Wednesday as Boone (Ian Somerhalder) died of injuries suffered in last week's episode. The show completed a circle of life as another character, Claire (Emilie de Ravin), gave birth.

Boone, a callow young man who had been toughened by island challenges, is the first fatality among the ABC drama's main cast. Although the character hasn't been as central as some, such as Jack, Kate, Sawyer or Locke, he was featured in a flashback episode — a Lost signature — and has been as prominent as any other of the airline crash survivors.

So why Boone?

"It will be very apparent as to why he died, just in terms of figuring out which character's death would impact the most relationships on the island," executive producer Damon Lindelof says.

Boone's death after he was injured when a small plane he was searching through fell from a cliff will affect the character's estranged stepsister, Shannon (Maggie Grace), and her growing love interest, Sayid (Naveen Andrews).

Boone "is the only person that ever really knew and loved Shannon, in spite of herself. Of course, losing him, especially with so much left unsaid and unresolved, will change her irrevocably," Grace says by e-mail from Hawaii, where Lost is filmed.

The series, which averages 15.9 million viewers, was renewed this week for a second season.

Boone's death sparks immediate conflict between two alpha survivors, Jack (Matthew Fox) and Locke (Terry O'Quinn). Locke was searching for ways to open a secret hatch with Boone when he was hurt. Jack, a doctor who tried to save Boone, is furious at Locke, a mysterious adventurer who lied about the cause of the injuries.

Death is "in the DNA" of a show with so many regular characters and an air of imminent danger, Lindelof says. He and fellow executive producer J.J. Abrams decided to have the death come now so that the ramifications could play out leading up to the two-part, three-hour season finale (May 18 and 25, 8 p.m. ET/PT).

And "that's not to say Boone is the only character who dies this season," Lindelof says.

Although Boone's death made sense from a story perspective, that didn't make it any easier telling Somerhalder. Lindelof praises the actor's performance on the show and says Somerhalder has handled the matter gracefully.

Others in the cast, who had wondered whether their characters would die, were saddened by Somerhalder's departure. Sequestered far from Hollywood, they have become "a tightknit group," Grace says.

"The day we filmed Ian's death was pretty heavy for everyone, especially Foxy (Fox's nickname) and Ian. They're very close," she says. "We've all known from Day 1 that we might not all be here for the duration of the show ... but there was still this feeling of camaraderie, that we were all in this together and would be for some time to come