The history of a television show is inseparable from its fandom. So posits GETTING LOST, a crowd-funded documentary film by Taylor Morden released in commemoration of Lost’s 20th anniversary. The typical talking points – the show’s mega-expensive pilot, divisive finale, and the sense its showrunners had no idea what they were doing episode to episode – are all addressed by those in front of and behind the show’s cameras. But what makes it a worthy two hours is how it forever returns to Lost’s fans and the communities they created.

We hear from the host of a podcast dedicated to the show, who met his wife through their shared love of discussing theories online. Terry O’Quinn, who played Locke, recalls a doctor telling him a patient with a brain tumour wanted to live just long enough to see how Lost ends. A paparazzi-like blogger called Ryan Ozawa, who would sneak onto the show’s set, raised his kids among the fandom he and his wife Jen spent all their time dedicated to. Jen has since passed away, and GETTING LOST beautifully weaves the show’s narrative arc into her story. Through online communities and in-person conventions, Jen became a part of the lives of people she would have never otherwise have met. The way Lost’s story brought together characters from all corners of society was mirrored in its fan base, which remains tight and devoted 14 years on from the series finale.

In fact, GETTING LOST feels not unlike that divisive finale in which characters from across its six seasons reunite in a church, having found each other in this life before moving on to the next one together. It brings back cast, showrunners, and writers to reflect on a part of their lives they half-remember (few can recall the show’s iconic string of numbers). They speak with a fond nostalgia for when they all lived as neighbours in Hawaii, taking turns to host and watch episodes together. The film often feels like a eulogy, emotionally longing for a time that has long since died. The people the show touched as it aired have grown, married, moved across the world, and some are no longer with us. It is a piece of cinema in conversation with ghosts. The film invites its audience to remember who they were when Lost was weekly appointment-viewing. Where were they, and who were they with? When Jack cried ‘we have to go back’ in the show’s third season finale, it laid bare the pain of leaving something special behind and our desperation to return to it. GETTING LOST cannot recapture when life was punctuated by Lost (or the late nights talking about it online). But what it does do is reassure its viewers that their passion for the show mattered twenty years ago and still matters now. The film is, effectively, your flashback episode.

Notably absent are Ian Somerhalder (Boone), who couldn’t find the time, Matthew Fox (Jack), who declined, and Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), who also turned down the chance to appear, releasing a statement on his Instagram saying, “I avoid negative speech and I was treated poorly on that show. Lots of people were.” Journalist Maureen Ryan’s exposé of toxicity in the writers’ room is put to its crew, who don’t disagree with her account. Damon Lindelof especially takes responsibility for how he treated those around him as a showrunner. Fans tussle with how revelations of sexism and racism behind the scenes affected their relationship with the show. One man compares his feelings to a typical episode, in which characters’ often-troubled pasts are revealed through flashbacks, showing how they were, while scenes in the present show how they can be and what they can strive to be. It’s a depressingly common problem facing fans of historical media, and it is a credit to GETTING LOST – a passion project – that it confronts blights on the show’s legacy.

“…it is a credit to GETTING LOST – a passion project – that it confronts blights on the show’s legacy.”

However, it is also an effective document of how Lost changed the game for the better. Daniel Dae-Kim, who played Jin, speaks highly of his role as a Korean love interest with whom we were expected to sympathise and considers the use of subtitles radical for the time. The romance between a spoiled white American girl and a former Iraqi torturer was quite a statement in a world reeling from 9/11. Evangeline Lilly’s character arc as Kate resembled one more routinely given to men. Men were typically allowed to be troubled and imperfect, while women were left to portray characters framed as pure and innocent.

There is lots here to smile at. Sawyer’s Josh Holloway is most charming company with his thick Georgian accent and cowboy hat, and seemingly still can’t believe his luck to have had such a juicy role. M.C. Gainey, whose character kidnapped Walt in the first season’s finale, curses every other word in his enthusiasm when talking about the show. There’s a delicate tonal balance of taking things seriously when called for and relishing how fun it was. A meet-up of all the babies who played Aaron is unbelievably adorable.

“…the film is a fascinating relic of recent pop culture history. Lost came before Twitter and streaming, when communities were built from the ground up, and there were fewer ways to watch your favourite show.”

GETTING LOST’s audience is fans of the show; Emilie de Ravin (Claire) gets goosebumps thinking back on the pilot, and much of the documentary elicits the same response in the viewer. But by pulling back the curtain on how Lost came together, on the ways it was at the forefront of digital fandom, and how it was kicked off a golden age of television (alongside the likes of Desperate Housewives, Battlestar Galactica, and Boston Legal), the film is a fascinating relic of recent pop culture history. Lost came before Twitter and streaming, when communities were built from the ground up, and there were fewer ways to watch your favourite show.

Lindelof sincerely wanted to create a piece of art with Lost but concedes it is not for him to decide if he succeeded. The case put forth here suggests he did: Lost changed television, culture, and the lives of people who gave themselves to the show’s lore. Twenty years later, the show and its fandom are almost always mentioned in the same breath. The community around the show is a major part of its enduring appeal, with present-day YouTube videos and Reddit boards dedicated to those discovering Lost for the first time. Politely, the show’s fans are described in the film as, ‘anybody who didn’t fit in but was a really great student’. They are who GETTING LOST is dedicated to, and without whom, Lost wouldn’t have been the phenomenon it was and continues to be.