Harold Perrineau Reveals What Epix’s From Learned From Lost

This article contains spoilers for the From season 1 finale.

Last night, the Epix suspense horror series From starring Harold Perrineau (of Lost, The Matrix Reloaded, Constantine, and much more) ended its first season with multiple cliffhangers that separated the main characters, and opened up a whole lot of questions about a town cut off from the rest of the world and surrounded by nocturnal vampire-esque creatures. Titled “Oh, the Places We’ll Go,” the tenth episode was reminiscent of a Lost-style finale that expands the web of intrigue (somewhat literally considering those massive spider webs that look like something woven by Tolkien’s Shelob).

And the comparisons to Lost are not without merit. From was created, and executive produced by John Griffin, Jack Bender (Lost, Game of Thrones, Mr. Mercedes), and by showrunner Jeff Pinkner (Fringe, Alias, Lost), with Anthony and Joe Russo of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as producers.

In the finale, Perrineau’s Sheriff Boyd Stevens continues his quest to go further into the forest beyond the trapped town. He’s joined by Sara Myers (played by Avery Konrad), who proves herself as an ally to Boyd. Sara hears Boyd’s wife’s voice in her head, calling him by his military nickname “Mr. Fish and Loaves,” before he ultimately hears her calling to him and he gets ensnared in some nasty spiderwebs and suffers multiple bites. As the bites infect him, they both head deeper towards the light and foghorn they heard, only to discover a lighthouse.

Ultimately, as a storm closes in, and they face increased danger from the forces of the forest, Sara sees the Boy in White, and she pushes Boyd into a faraway tree. The last we see of him, he’s trapped in some confined chimney-like space (perhaps within the lighthouse itself?), and we’ve no clue whether Sara followed, or where she apparated.

Aside from this, Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) digs under her basement enough to crash into the daytime lair of the monsters (complete with mysterious cave drawings of Jade’s symbol, a tower, and people on a boat), and discovers Victor (Scott McCord) waiting for her. In the final moments before the storm closes in, Jim (Eion Bailey) uses his new radio tower on Colony House to connect with a voice that knows his name and offers an ominous warning about the safety of Tabitha. The episode then closes with a bus pulling up in front of the diner, seemingly welcoming new arrivals to town.

While there is a lot to unpack about the episode, we received some insight from Perrineau about the finale. In the new episode of the paranormal pop culture show Talking Strange (which you can check out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and embedded below), the actor discussed his thoughts and reactions to “Oh, the Places We’ll Go.” In the full interview, he discusses with host Aaron Sagers his thoughts on the show’s comparisons to Lost, the appeal of The Best Man franchise, and his own scary legends from his upbringing in Brooklyn.

[Questions and responses have been edited lightly for clarity]

Den of Geek: Where is Boyd at the end of the season finale?

Harold Perrineau: I don’t know where Boyd is, or what’s happening, but I am claustrophobic as fuck. Wherever he is, it does not look good. I am not so looking forward to going back to do that again, but I know that’s where it’s going to start.

I can’t answer the question in real practical terms because I don’t know the answer …

What is the lighthouse? Who was that talking to Jim? We don’t have those answers and we do want you to come back. If it wraps up too neatly, it’s easy to go, ‘Eh, maybe I’ll come back next year.’ But when you’re like, ‘What the hell is with the light tower? Who dragged you to a light tower?’ I think people are going to come back. And we now have a little bit of time to talk about it.

Asking for fellow fans of Lost, but is there a plan for From?

“There is a plan. They really assured me in a different way than they assured me with Lost… You should know the monsters in the first season are just the beginning of the trauma.

Do you think this lighthouse a beacon of hope, or something to avoid?

One of the central themes in From is a matter of perspective. Do you live in a town of rules, or live like this is your last day on Earth? For Boyd, he’s like, ‘Look, I don’t know where we are. All I got is that tower.’ For Sara, she’s like, ‘They say go away, so we should go away.’ And then it is a communal decision of how we figure this out … neither point of view is a bad point of view. If you have no place else to go, and all you see is that lighthouse, there has to be something there. But lighthouses traditionally mean, ‘Get away from me, don’t come over this way, this is what you should be afraid of.’

Is Sara an ally or enemy to Boyd?

It’s so subtle, but when Boyd is having that hard time and pulls out his knife because he’s ready to fight but can’t, she takes the knife, closes it, and says, ‘Let’s go.’ It’s subtle, but it’s a big deal. It’s a big, ‘I’m not here to hurt you, I’m not crazy, something is happening to me.’ She even knows, ‘You gotta trust me,’ and pushes him in the faraway tree. I think he goes there with an ally. He starts off with an enemy, but he eventually gets an ally. It takes him breaking down with his body and mind. Boyd in his full mind probably would never trust her. There must be a breakdown, which happens in life sometimes. You don’t trust a person, you go through something crazy together, and you realize we’re connected. That’s where they are, and then something new happens.

How did you feel about Boyd going off on a semi-solo adventure at the end of the season?

When [the producers] first told me about it, it was reminiscent of Lost. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, is this like Michael where he just goes away? Is that what you’re saying?’ This is where they reassured me … I don’t really know what this means, but they said he goes away, and we’re on two different journeys. The monsters are the easiest part. What’s about to happen? It’s about to go down. The monsters are the smallest first part of something so much deeper that is bigger, and scarier. I was like, ‘Oh hell yeah, let’s go, let’s do that part.’ I’m really curious about what’s scarier than the monsters back in town.

What is happening back in town?

Whatever is in town, they are in town with the monsters, and then a bus pulls up. I don’t know what the hell!

Maybe this is the beginning of the Harlem Globetrotters crossover?

Exactly! Meadowlark Lemon comes out and is like, ‘Hey fellas, where we at?”

To hear more from Harold Perrineau — and from other guests — check out the paranormal pop culture show Talking Strange on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube,  and don’t miss our Twitch livestreams.