Michael Emerson finds his dark niche on 'Lost'

[Brian Damage]

"All my actor life I've thought of myself as a comic actor," says Michael Emerson, "and I've ended up playing such dark roles. I don't know how that happened."

Whatever the answer, Emerson has the knack for screen villainy. After coming to a grisly end as Zep Hindle in the first installment of the "Saw" horror franchise, he joined the cast of the castaway drama "Lost," which returns to ABC (Ch. 7) on Thursday at 10 p.m.

Originally contracted for only a handful of episodes, two years later his character, Ben Linus, is the show's most mysterious bad guy. And he's still filming in Hawaii.

"It's grim work," he laughs on the phone from Honolulu. "I used to think it was hard work when I was in the hatch day after day after day, but now I see the beauty of that. At least you're in an air-conditioned building. I have been out in the jungle more than I ever dreamt. And those are hard scenes. When there are a bunch of us trooping around in the jungle, that is a long, hot, buggy day."

Ben's character arc is no picnic. He got to the island before most of the other characters, giving him time to off his abusive dad and assume leadership of the group known as "The Others." Since the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, he has suffered spinal surgery, kidnapping and a crossbow shot to the shoulder.

He started season four as a prisoner of the faction of crash survivors led by John Locke (Terry O'Quinn). Before the pause in the season caused by the writers' strike, fans learned in a flash-forward that Ben makes it off the island and - somehow - recruits Sayid (Naveen Andrews) to work for him as an assassin.

In terms of story details, however, the rate of reveal has been slow. When the show resumes this week, Emerson promises that things get kicking.

"It's going to knock you out when you see that next episode," he says. "It's so full of developments and movement, I can't tell you."

Even his future in professional killing comes into play, he says, with the fates of the "Oceanic Six" - those characters who make it off the island - getting plenty of attention in the season's final episodes.

For Emerson, Ben's future fits his character. "Ben is a man who must sometimes be angry because he's never going to have the quiet happiness of family and home," he says.

"He's always going to be some kind of global warrior. He doesn't get to have the girl."

Fans will remember, however, Ben's foray into romance with Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell). His wooing tactics included a home-cooked dinner for two, and possibly - maybe - sending her lover, Goodwin (Brett Cullen), on a death mission.

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[Céline]

Thank you for posting this.Ben is one of my favorite character of the show.I'm glad to know how Michael Emerson(who is great actor by the way) feels about this complex character.He has a dark personality,so mysterious and never boring.His interaction with John Lock make the all show for me.