Shannon Rutherford was a middle section survivor of Oceanic Flight 815 and was the stepsister of Boone Carlyle. She and Boone always argued before and after the crash. Before the crash, her father had died in a car crash and she had been cut off by her stepmother, who also refused to give her any of her father’s money. She used men, especially Boone, to get what she wanted, which eventually led to a one night-stand with Boone. After the crash, she was very selfish at times, refusing to help the other survivors, as she insisted they would be rescued. However, she assisted in trying to get a signal on the transceiver, and used her French skills to translate Rousseau‘s signal. She also had an asthma attack when her inhaler ran out, but Sun eased her symptoms. She eventually formed a romantic relationship with Sayid, which helped her realize her selfishness and led to a change in attitude. As she and Sayid went for a picnic, Boone fell out of a plane and died of injuries. After Boone died, Shannon sought revenge on John Locke, attempting to shoot him, but Sayid interfered. She eventually forgave Sayid, but began to have strange visions of Walt who she thought was on the raft. On day 48 she ran from camp with Sayid to search for Walt; however she collided with the Tailies and was unintentionally shot in the stomach and killed by Ana Lucia Cortez after chasing another image of Walt. She died in Sayid‘s arms having finally gained his confidence and belief in her.
In the flash-sideways, she was reunited with her lover, Sayid Jarrah and along with their friends, they moved on.
- Shannon has appeared in 5 episodes since her death: „The Other 48 Days“ in a flashback, „Collision„, „What Kate Did“ as a corpse and „Exposé“ in a flashback and „The End“ in a flash sideways.
- During an interview about conceiving the idea of Shannon, producers stated that Shannon was based on Paris Hilton.
- Shannon was the fourteenth character to have a flashback and the last of the original cast.
- Shannon was the only main character not to have a centric episode in Season 1, although she did feature prominently in Boone’s „Hearts and Minds“ flashback.
- Shannon is the only main character never to have visited a DHARMA station, counting Boone‘s trips to the hatch exterior as visits to a DHARMA station.
- Shannon’s episode count is 32. She died on her 26th (Sayid & Shannon‘s POV) and 27th (replayed but in the Tailies POV) appearance. In her 28th and 29th she was only present with her corpse and in her 30th appearance she returned via flashbacks. She made her 31st and 32nd appearances via flash-sideaways.
- Shannon is one of three characters to die in two different episodes („Abandoned“ and „The Other 48 Days„), the second being Daniel („The Variable“ and „Follow the Leader„) the third being Sayid („LA X, Part 1“ and „The Candidate„).
- Shannon has never met Ben, Daniel, Charlotte, Miles, Richard, Lapidus, Eloise, Pierre and Ilana. However, she’s met the rest of the main fuselage-survivors. She also saw the tail-section survivors briefly, though it should be noted she was dying at the time so this can hardly be termed „meeting“ them.
- She died 7 days after her brother Boone.
- Maggie Grace was billed as a special guest star in „Collision“ and in „Exposé„.
- Shannon was the second main character to be killed. The first was Boone, making the first two to be killed related.
- Shannon was the first main character to be killed at the conclusion of Abandoned their flashback episode. The pattern followed with Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko, Nikki, Paulo, Daniel, and Jacob.
- Maggie Grace, who at the time had brown hair, wore a blonde wig to shoot her flashback scenes for Season 3.
- Of the 14 original main characters, Shannon is the only one neither seen nor referred to in Season 4.
- Shannon is one of three characters portrayed by principal cast in Season 2 never to appear in the Swan (the other two being Walt and Claire).
- Shannon survived on the Island for 48 days. There were 48 survivors of the middle section of Flight 815.
- Ernest Rutherford, a New Zealand physicist, is known as the father of Nuclear Physics.
- Bernard is the only surviving character to have witnessed Shannon’s death. Ana Lucia, Eko, Libby, Sayid, Jin and Michael are deceased and Sawyer was unconscious at the time.
- Shannon is mentioned for the first time since Season Three by Locke in „The Little Prince„. He asks Sawyer who he saw in the jungle „Charlie? Shannon?“
- Like when Brian Porter told Michael that Walt was „Special“ and Emily Locke told John he was „Special„, Boone also told Locke that Shannon was „Special„.
- In „Pilot, Part 2„, Shannon says „They’re coming“ to Boone as an explanation of why she will not help look through the debris from the plane. This is the same thing Jacob says to The Man in Black in „The Incident, Part 2„.
- In „LA X, Part 1„, the flash sideways Boone mentions that he was in Australia to rescue his sister from a bad relationship, almost certainly a reference to an alternate Shannon and her troubles with Bryan, although details are unknown.
- This was a rewrite due to Maggie Grace turning down an offer to appear in the premiere.
- In „The Substitute„, it is revealed that Shannon was one of the candidates since her surname is written on Jacob’s Wall, although is crossed out due to her death.
- Originally, Shannon was set to make an appearance on the final season premiere, but Maggie Grace was unable to film any scenes due to her busy schedule. Thus, the backstory was rewritten to accommodate this.
- Later, Maggie was able to make an appearance on the final episode „The End„. Executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse confirmed to EW.com: „We’re really excited about having her back on the show,“ says Cuse, „and we have a good story for her.“
- Shannon was the first main character to be killed by another main character.
- Last words: „Walt! Wait!“
- Witnesses of her death: Sayid, Ana Lucia, Bernard, Mr. Eko, Libby, Jin, Michael
Lost 