Contrary to popular belief, such a sudden murder of Ana–Lucia and Libby in the second season of the TV series “Stay Alive” did not happen because of the arrests of actors Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros for drunk driving. Ana-Lucia Cortez and Elizabeth “Libby” Smith were introduced to the story at the very beginning of the second season of “Stay Alive” as two survivors from the tail section of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Their survival was unknown to Jack, Kate, Sawyer and the others. the main group that crashed in another part of the island.
Ana Lucia quickly established herself as the leader of the survivors in the tail section, but also quickly aroused the anger of the public with her overly belligerent and hostile behavior towards the main characters. Her accidental murder of Shannon, who herself was partially redeemed due to her affair with fan favorite Said, intensified the negative reaction to Ana Lucia. On the contrary, Libby developed a rather charming relationship with Hurley, in which they became romantically close until Libby’s sudden death as a result of a gunshot.
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The mentioned gunshot deaths of Ana-Lucia and Libby occurred in the season 2 episode “Stay Alive”, “Two on the Road”, as they were shot by the usually friendly Michael, who was coerced by Others. This episode aired just a few weeks after Rodriguez and Watros were arrested for drunk driving, so it quickly became common knowledge that they were excluded from the show because of these charges. In fact, Ana Lucia’s death was planned from the very beginning, since Rodriguez did not want to star for more than one season. The decision to kill the mysterious Libby was also due to Ana Lucia’s unpopularity, as the producers thought Libby’s death would be a more shocking and emotional moment.
While it’s logically understandable why many end up attributing the deaths of Ana Lucia and Libby from “Stay Alive” to the bad behavior of their actors in real life, and it’s even understandable why this belief remains widespread even today, anyone who knows how “Stay Alive” was created really knew it would seem that this is not true. Staying Alive was one of the first high-budget prestige dramas created for network television in the 2000s, and its episodes were written and filmed long before they actually aired. The decision to kill Ana Lucia and Libby was made long before any arrests took place, and the timing was completely random.
As mentioned above, the star of “Fast and Furious” Michelle Rodriguez made it a condition of subscription that she would star in only one season of “Stay Alive”. As for Libby, the writers and producers of “Stay Alive” actually planned to bring her back in the following seasons and reveal more about her mysterious past in flashbacks. Unfortunately, Cynthia Watros was too busy with other projects to appear in subsequent seasons more than a few times, although she managed to reunite with Hurley in the afterlife of the 6th season of “Stay Alive”. As tempting as it may be to attribute the shocking and sudden demise of Ana Lucia and Libby to a scandal, the reality is much more mundane.
