Michael Dawson is a fictional character played by Harold Perrineau on the ABC television series Lost. Michael is one of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 who crashes on the show's mysterious island. After losing a custody battle with Susan Lloyd (Tamara Taylor), Michael does not see his son Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) for almost ten years. They reunite when she dies, but on their journey home, their plane crashes on a mysterious island in the South Pacific. Here Walt is kidnapped by the Island's previous inhabitants, the Others, and Michael spends his time trying to retrieve him. He is eventually successful, and they leave the Island together, but the guilt over the murders he had to commit to achieve this leads him to an estrangement with his son and a suicide attempt. He returns to the Island on a freighter, but is killed when a bomb on it explodes. Michael reappears as a ghost, and apologizes to Hurley for killing Libby (Cynthia Watros). Although initially skeptical about the role, Perrineau took it after Lost creator J. J. Abrams told him more about it. Much of the first season arc for Michael was rewritten; he was originally going to be part of a love triangle with Korean couple Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), but positive fan reaction to the couple meant this storyline was dropped. After Michael leaves the Island in season two, Perrineau knew he would return to Lost at some point; he felt there was more to tell of Michael's story. Reception for the character has been mixed, but Perrineau's acting was largely praised. Arc Much of Michael's life before the plane crash is shown in flashbacks during "Special". Susan Lloyd leaves Michael after their son Walt is born, and travels to Amsterdam with Walt. Later, Susan tells him that she intends to get married. Michael becomes enraged, and is hit by a car, leaving him hospitalized for months. Susan tracks him down at the hospital and tries to convince him to give up his parental rights, so that her new husband can adopt Walt. Michael refuses, but in the resulting custody battle Susan convinces him that it is the best decision for Walt. Several years later, Susan dies, and her husband asks Michael to take custody of Walt, who is now living in Australia. Michael agrees, but just before the return flight, calls his