Titus Welliver, the actor first seen in the Season 5 finale as Jacob’s unnamed nemesis, aka “Esau,” aka “Man No. 2,” before that character took on the form of John Locke, talked to TV Guide’s Matt Mitovich about the experience of filming that episode and what he thinks of the enigmatic “chess game” between Jacob and Man No. 2.
Read the full interview here, but here’s a quick summary of the juiciest bits to be gleaned from it:
- Jacob’s nemesis definitely has a name, and it’s an important one. But Welliver doesn’t know what it is.
- Welliver’s best and most intriguing theory: “…by destroying Jacob, does that prove that [Man No. 2] can ultimately have power over the island? Do the castaways become solely his playthings? And why was it so important that he find the loophole to be able to kill Jacob? That moved me in the direction of thinking that if he needs this loophole, there’s a greater power than the two of them that they’re answering to.”
- Though he has no intel to back up his suspicion, Welliver doesn’t believe we’ve seen the last of Jacob: “…as a viewer I think, ‘It can’t be that easy to get rid of Jacob.’”