First gaining attention as Charlie Salinger, the big brother unexpectedly tasked with raising his younger siblings on the Fox drama Party of Five, Matthew Fox earned a new legion of devoted fans as Dr. Jack Shephard on the popular ABC series Lost.
Fox is soon to return to the small screen, on the Peacock limited series Last Light.
This marks not only his first major television role since Lost ended in 2010 with a very controversial series finale, but also Fox's first major acting role since 2015's Bone Tomahawk.
As reported by Variety, Fox mentioned in a press conference at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, where Last Light recently premiered, in 2015 he felt there was little left he needed to accomplish as an actor.
“I kind of had a bucket list in my mind of things that I wanted to accomplish in the business, and after I did Bone Tomahawk in 2014 that had kind of completed the bucket list.”
"I wanted to do a Western."
"It’s a very odd Western, but it’s a Western."
"And so that sort of completed the bucket list.”
Fox also noted accomplishing his 'bucket list' meant he could focus on spending time with his wife, Margherita Ronchi, and their two children while also explore some other passions he previously didn't have the time for.
"At that time in my life, our kids were at an age where I felt like I needed to really reengage."
"I had been focused on work for some time, and Margherita had been running the family so beautifully, but I felt like it was time to be home, and I really felt like I was retiring from the business, and working on other creative elements that are really personal to me—some music and writing."
Enticing Fox to come out of his retirement, however, was the offer to also serve as not only star but executive producer on Last Light, adding an unexpected item to the actor's "bucket list."
"I kind of got to a point where I thought that maybe the bucket list included executive producing.”
“I’d never done that before."
"The opportunity to be involved in ‘Last Light’ came along, and so I wanted to give it a shot."
"And it felt like the right time.”
Cementing Fox's decision to join Last Light was reuniting with director Dennie Gordon, with whom Fox had previously worked on Party of Five.
"So it just all kind of came together."
"It felt like it was the moment to jump back in, and see how it felt to be in front of a camera again, and to act again."
"And it was surprisingly rewarding."
"And I felt really good doing it, and with this incredible group of people, and the collaborative aspect of it, and how well we all bonded, how much we believed in the project."
"And it turned out to be a fantastic experience."
One thing Fox did not mention as possibly contributing to his brief retirement from acting and staying out of the public eye, was gaining some rather unwanted attention in the media shortly after the conclusion of Lost.
In 2011, a female bus driver in Cleveland, Ohio accused Fox of punching her in the “crotch and breast” when she refused to let him on a privately rented party bus.
Fox openly denied the allegations in an interview on Ellen and charges were later dropped.
However, Fox's former Lost co-star Dominic Monaghan claimed in a Twitter post Fox "beats women".
Once again, Fox openly denied the allegations from his former co-star, describing them as a "pile of bullsh*t."
Fox's return to the small screen was met with excitement on Twitter, with a Lost fan page giving an appropriate nod to his former life as Dr. Jack Shephard, and some applauding him for taking time off to spend with his family.
Others, however, were less thrilled to see Fox back in the spotlight again, having not forgotten his past allegations.
Based on Alex Scarrow's novel of the same name, Last Light tells the semi-dystopian tale of a world thrown into chaos and uncertainty after their oil supply has been cut off.
An official premiere date for Last Light, which also stars Downton Abbey's Joanne Froggatt has yet to be announced.
