In September 2004, two monumental events occurred. The television series Lost premiered for the first time and in its fictional storyline, the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 were stranded on the mysterious island. It would be over one hundred days before any of them publicly returned to civilization.
As revealed in Season 4, six of the castaways eventually escaped the island. Due to their being involved in an Oceanic plane crash, they are known as the Oceanic Six. Included in this group are Dr. Jack Shephard, Kate Austen, Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes, Sun-Hwa Kwon, Sayid Jarrah, and Aaron Littleton. At the time of the crash, Kate was a fugitive in federal custody. It could be argued that others on the island had a greater entitlement to leave. Read on for the ten people who deserved to be in the Oceanic Six more than Kate.
Cindy Chandler
Cindy Chandler was the Australian flight attendant on Oceanic Flight 815. After the crash, she was stranded alongside the tail-section survivors. Although introduced in the pilot episode, Cindy had a larger role to play in season two by being part of this group.
While she was later abducted by The Others and assimilated into their community, Cindy was an innocent person doing her job when thrust into this crisis situation. There were presumably loved ones back in Australia who never saw her again. Kate, on the other hand, had no one who wanted to see her.
Seth Norris
Seth Norris was Lost's first major death - and casual fans wouldn't even know his name. He was the pilot of Flight 815 and died several hours after the crash, shortly after meeting survivors Jack, Kate and Charlie Pace. In season four, it is revealed that Seth was not even supposed to be on the flight - he stepped in for future main character Frank Lapidus, who had overslept.
As a pilot, Seth probably would have been the best prepared of what to do while awaiting rescue. His actions in stepping up to replace Lapidus also give an insight into his character. Oceanic Airlines owed him a lot and he never made it back to the mainland to reap the rewards.
Edward Mars
Federal Marshal Edward Mars was the government official who had detained Kate, escorting her out of Australia and back to the United States. Mars may be a controversial choice - since Kate is a primary character, he is seen as a 'bad guy' for being opposition to her. However, it is important to remember that in the eyes of the law, Kate is a murderer and Mars was only doing his job.
Kate was a young, attractive woman who Jack formed a bond with early on. However, if Mars been unscathed from the crash or Kate was hostile, Jack may have seen things in a different way. It is possible that Mars would have received some kind of reward or recognition if had he returned with the Oceanic Six.
Charlie Pace
Charlie was one of the few non-American core characters on Lost. A Manchester, England-born member of a one-hit-wonder boyband named Drive Shaft, he is also one of the first to have their personality and backstory established by accompanying Jack and Kate on the first trek into the jungle. During his time on the island, he forms a romantic relationship with Claire, a pregnant survivor from Australia.
While Charlie had his demons (mainly drug-related), he was, in essence, a good person. One example is willingly sacrificing his life so his friends could get rescued. He had also become a father figure to Claire's son Aaron, who was a member of the Oceanic Six. Perhaps someone who already considered themselves Aaron's parent would have been a better choice than Kate, had Charlie lived?
Libby Smith
Elizabeth 'Libby' Smith was introduced onto Lost in the second season. She had been seated in the back half of the plane, which had landed in a different location during the crash. Before her untimely death at the end of the season, she formed a brief romance with lovable Hurley.
While Libby had already died by the time that the Oceanic Six made their escape, there is no question that she deserved a spot in the group. A kind, caring woman who was killed in a tragic, unintended accident. Not to mention that she was Hurley's only love interest throughout the entire series.
Boone Carlyle
One of the original cast members of Lost, wealthy Boone was played by future Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhalder. Unlike many of the other 815 passengers, Boone had a family member on board with him - his stepsister Shannon (Maggie Grace). Sadly, his time on the show was all too brief.
Ultimately becoming the first main character death, Boone experienced a lot in his twenty episodes as a regular character. Most notably, he became the protegé of fellow survivor John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) which would lead to his demise. Unlike Kate, Boone made no serious enemies on the island and deserved to escape with the Oceanic Six.
Walt Lloyd
The newly reunited biological son of Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau), Walt was the only child to ever be a regular on Lost. His inclusion here is a bit confusing - Walt did, in fact, leave the island but under marred circumstances - his father murdered Ana Lucia Cortez and Libby Smith in securing his freedom. Then, in his guilt, Michael left Walt in the care of the latter's grandmother. If that wasn't enough, Walt potentially never saw his dog, Vincent, ever again.
Due to the trauma that he had faced on the island and no one else who had that shared experience being around, Walt ended up in a mental institution. Had he escaped with others who understood his plight (especially Jack, who had also been imprisoned by The Others), he may have had a better experience readjusting to the outside world.
Claire Littleton
When the plane crash occurred, Claire was a pregnant young woman from Australia with no intention of keeping the baby. While on the island, she formed friendships with Hurley, Sun, and Rose among others. Claire also gave birth to her son Aaron and had a romance with Charlie Pace until his death.
Instead of fleeing the island with her son and the other castaways, she was left to fend for herself in the jungle. This caused her to eventually start to lose her sanity. All the while Kate was raising her son in relative luxury.
James 'Sawyer' Ford
A small-time crook and con artist who has much more depth than initially meets the eye. With a tragic, complex history and a love of books, Sawyer (or James) is an example to not judge a book by its cover, no pun intended. Perhaps more than anyone else, he goes through the biggest evolution from being a self-serving loner to genuinely caring about the others' welfare.
In actual fact, Sawyer very nearly did escape with what became the Oceanic Six. To accomplish the task successfully, he jumped out of the helicopter everyone was in, ridding the vehicle of extra weight and allowing those on board to be free. Sawyer, meanwhile, swam back to the island. This kind of selflessness would have been unrealistic for Kate, who spent much of her time toying with Jack and Sawyer's feelings for her.
Jin-Soo Kwon
While Jin seemed like an aggressive, abusive husband at first glance, flashbacks helped reveal the depth and inner turmoil to his character. Unraveled as a romantic from an impoverished background, the audience is shown the lengths he went to in order to marry his true love - Sun. As with others such as Locke and Rose, the island provided the couple with a miracle of their own.
In the outside world, one of them (later revealed to be Jin) was infertile and thus unable to have children. However, Sun discovered she was pregnant on the island and gave birth to their daughter - Ji Yeon, on the mainland. Although at the time, Jin was still alive and not dead as the world believed, Ji Yeon deserved to have both parents in her life, as any child did. Instead, baby Aaron ended up with an initially reluctant adoptive mother.