 The producers were looking for someone who had a " Paris Hilton quality " to play Shannon , but she could not just be shallow , as the storyline would require more than that . A lot of women auditioned before the producers finally settled on Maggie Grace . She was written to be a bitch in the first season as the producers needed a character they could use to create opposition and conflict . The producers thought it would be interesting for there to be more to Shannon and Boone 's relationship than just Boone 's possessive brotherly interest . They came up with the idea for them to be unrelated stepsiblings , who have a romantic encounter , which became the twist for their backstory . When Boone is killed at the end of season one , it forces Shannon into a more adult existence on the Island . Grace noted 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 . " This freed her up to develop her relationship with Sayid . Naveen Andrews , who plays Sayid , came up with the idea for Shannon and Sayid relationship . He thought , " What would really shock Middle @-@ America ? What if Sayid was to have a relationship with a woman that looked like Miss America ? The most unlikely pairing … to come completely from left field . " This pairing made Shannon " less flighty ... more of a person to be reckoned with . " According to Lost producer Carlton Cuse , " The relationships [ the audience ] expect on the show are not necessarily the ones that we [ the producers ] necessarily are going to give you , but we want to try to find ways in which characters that you don 't expect to kind of connect to one another to connect in ways that are kind of surprising . " 
