 Shannon 's flashbacks in " Abandoned " were used to allow the audience to get to a " really emotional level with the character , [ to ] finally understand ... why she was the way she was . " Her death was planned before the start of season two , as the producers wanted the survivors in the tail section of the plane and the survivors of the fuselage to be forced to come together under difficult circumstances . Her death was also used to " spin Sayid off in another direction . " Damon Lindelof commented " It 's sort of understood on Lost that that 's what you sign up for . There 's going to be constant character turnover , because the stakes on the Island are life @-@ or @-@ death . " Lindelof felt an " intense , emotional sense of loss " when watching her death . In her post @-@ death appearance in " Collision , " Maggie Grace was credited as " special guest star . " She received the same billing when she returned in season three , appearing in Nikki and Paulo 's flashbacks . Carlton Cuse noted " it was really fun for us to actually have Boone and Shannon reemerge in the stories . " Shannon was originally in " LA X " , the season premiere for the sixth and final season , but had to be written out as Grace was unavailable . The producers eventually arranged for Grace to appear in " The End " . 
