Lost Ups Body Count

Another one bites the dust...er, smoke.

Just five episodes into Lost's third season and already another castaway has been offed.

(SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen last night's episode, then stop reading, turn off your computer, unplug your phone and crawl back into your hatch.)

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's mysterious Mr. Eko, who became one of the show's most popular characters after joining the cast last season, perished during last night's episode at the hands of the island's even more mysterious swirling black smoke creature.

The episode revolved around Eko and featured flashbacks to another violent occurrence from his past. After taking over the church of his deceased brother, Yemi, Eko tries to help local villagers secure a shipment of much needed vaccines. When militia strongmen attempt to siphon off the supply, Eko takes matters into his own hands and kills the men in the church.

As a result of the murders, villagers board up the chapel and informed Eko that he owes his brother a church—explaining his drive to build one on the island last season.

Meanwhile, back in the present, Eko gets plagued with visions of his dead sibling, whose remains wound up in a plane wreck on the island. Eko follows the apparition to a meadow, where Yemi asks Eko if he is ready to confess his part indiscretions and be judged by God. Eko says yes, only to surprise his brother by refusing to ask for forgiveness, saying, "I ask no forgiveness, Father, for I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to survive."

Upon his pronouncement, Yemi vanishes and the black smoke cloud appears, lifting Eko up and slamming him against several trees before dropping his broken body to the ground. In his dying breath, Eko whispers something to Locke. When asked by the other castaways what Eko said, Locke replies, "We're next."

Despite rampant speculation that Eko's death was a result of increasingly diva-like on-set behavior on the part of Akinnuoye-Agbaje, show producers claim the death was planned from the get-go.

"When Adewale came on the show, he didn't want to make a long-term commitment to a series," producer Carlton Cuse tells TVGuide.com. "We love him, and so we agreed that he would come on the show and then we would find a time in which his arc would come to an end. And we sort of felt after a lot of conversations with him—most of which took place at the end of the spring last year—that we would finish his character somewhere in [these first] six episodes."

Akinnuoye-Agbaje corroborated the official line, saying telling Entertainment Weekly that after one particular show last season, he felt "the character was complete. It was such a well-written episode that I knew I would be able to sew him up in a season."

While the death may have been in the works for a while, it's possible not everyone is pining for the loss.

TV Guide reports in its upcoming issue that the 39-year-old Akinnuoye-Agbaje had frequently been called out as a troublemaker on the Lost set, insisting on rewrites, refusing to film scenes and "demanding" to be released from his contract last spring after both his parents passed away. But writer-producer Damon Lindelof denies that any behind-the-scenes behavior resulted in the onscreen death.

"We would never let that kind of thing determine the creative direction of the show," he tells the magazine. "We're all in the service of the story."

As for fans, despite the Internet rumors that this would be the week of Eko's demise, the actual loss took some by surprise.

"Personally, I'd like to force feed Dharma fish biscuits to [the powers that be] for killing off Eko, who was a very intriguing character," a fan dubbed "the Lurker" wrote on lost-tv.com. "I don't care if he was being a pain, killing him off is BS."

Magnoliasouth agreed, posting, "I cannot believe Eko is gone...I'm in mourning now."

Not all fans were mourning, however. On the same forum, MetalFrailRunner wrapped up the situation by saying simply, "Okay, Eko's dead, who cares."

Akinnuoye-Agbaje was one of three main characters to join the cast season as Tailies, that is, survivors of the rear section of the plane. As conspiracy theorists are well aware, all three have now been killed off the show after making headlines for offscreen traffic stops.

Michelle Rodriguez's and Cynthia Watros' characters were gunned down last spring, shortly after the two actresses were respectively jailed and had their driver's licenses revoked by Hawaii Five-0 for DUIs.

On Sept. 2, Akinnuoye-Agbaje was ticketed for driving without a license and disobeying an officer, though both charges were later dropped.

"We actually work very closely with the Honolulu police department, and they have final script approval," Cuse cracks in TVGuide.com.

"Look, we feel very strongly about traffic violations, no matter how minor they are," Lindelof adds. "All we can say is that Evangeline Lilly got a parking ticket last week, and she better not count her chickens."

Or fish biscuits.

As for Akinnuoye-Agbaje, he's already got his next project lined up. He's due to direct his first feature film, based on his own life, later this year.

Lost, meanwhile, wraps up its six-episode fall season next week. ABC is teasing the upcoming episode as the "best episode of the year," perhaps in attempt to drum up more viewers. CBS' Criminal Minds has been narrowing the ratings gap in recent weeks and, according to Nielsen Media Research, beat Lost for the first time in total audience on Wendesday, 17 million to 16.1 million, although Lost maintained a healthy lead in the advertiser-favored 18-49 demo.

The ABC series will then go on a 13-week hiatus before returning for February sweeps, when the network will air the season's final 16 episodes.