Who served as Lost showrunner with Damon Lindelof?

Carlton Cuse served as Lost’s showrunner alongside Damon Lindelof. The pair jointly guided the series’ creative direction and production throughout its six-season run from 2004 to 2010.

Cuse joined Lost as an executive producer and became especially important after Lindelof, who had limited showrunning experience, sought his advice. Together, they oversaw story construction, rewrites, casting, editing, and the broader mythology that made the series unusually serialized for network television.

The two also wrote episodes together, including “The Constant,” one of the show’s most acclaimed installments. Their partnership helped Lost balance its island survival plot with flashbacks, flash-forwards, time travel, and supernatural mysteries. Cuse and Lindelof also used podcasts and online discussions to explain production choices and engage with the audience.

J. J. Abrams was a co-creator and executive producer, but he was not the showrunner who ran Lost with Lindelof. Jack Bender and Bryan Burk were major producers and directors, yet neither is the canonical answer to this question.