Abrams: 'Fringe' Is Not A New 'Lost'

Of course, given the way “Fringe” opens, many viewers may believe otherwise as the series launches into the world of the weird following a very troubled flight.

“It's almost embarrassing, but I wasn't even thinking about that,” Abrams told TV Guide, referring to the similarity with the castaway drama. “The idea for that sequence came to me, and then I thought, ‘Oh, Lord.’ Then I was like, ‘Do we change it?’ But the story could not be less like 'Lost.' To me, there's just something about airplanes. I was obsessed with the ‘Airport’ movies when I was a kid. I saw all of them, including ‘The Concorde: Airport '79.’ So it's a place that's kind of a go-to for me. But I'm guessing I can't really do another airplane thing for a while.”

Coming from Abrams, the series definitely has some large boots to fill, following in the wake of the Emmy winning shows “Alias” and “Lost,” not to mention his big-screen outings in “Cloverfield” and very soon “Star Trek” as well. Has the producer felt the pressure? Yes ... but that’s not different from any other production.

“I feel the pressure every time,” he explained. “I felt it on ‘Felicity,’ on ‘Alias,’ on ‘Lost,’ and I feel it on ‘Fringe.’ It goes with the territory. But I'm far more excited about people seeing it than I am nervous that they may not like it.”

In the series, FBI agents Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and Peter Bishop (John Noble) come face-to- face with spreading unexplained incidents and in an attempt to stop them, they enlist the assistance of Bishop's estranged father, the institutionalized scientist Dr. Walter Bishop. Based on what he has seen of the show so far, Abrams strongly believes he has made the right choice in bringing Torv into the series as he had the same feeling when he discovered his previous female stars.

“It's funny because I don't consciously write strong women,” Abrams said. “I just hopefully write strong characters who may happen to be women. If Olivia were a guy, I don't know that you'd be saying, ‘Oh, it's a strong male.’ But what I love about Olivia is she's got a lot going on that's just barely alluded to in the pilot. And Anna [Torv] is so good because she's clearly the prettiest person in the room, but she's not inaccessible. She's not phony pretty. When I saw her audition, I had the same undeniable feeling I had when I saw Jennifer Garner or Evangeline Lilly.”

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