July 22, 2008 - Lost executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were part of a panel this afternoon at the Television Critics Association press tour, joining showrunners from other ABC series. The duo were asked plenty of questions about what's to come next season, but as always, played things very close to the vest to keep upcoming plot twists a secret.
Lindelof said it was very exciting to them to be, "going into Season 5 and the fact that people are still asking [what's to come] is extraordinary." It's been announced of course that Lost will end with Season 6, and Cuse said, "We're very grateful [to ABC] for working out an end date with us. We know exactly how much time we have left to tell our story. I think that end date completely changed our storytelling approach."
The writers' strike resulted in a delay in the last few episodes of Lost's fourth season, which had been intended to run without interruption, plus the season being cut down by a couple of hours. Cuse however said he felt that with the strike, "one of the greatest things was having 100 days where we weren't thinking about Lost. We came back after 100 days sort of rested and energized. So I think for us doing the last six hours of the show was very exciting because we hadn't used every idea we had and we weren't fatigued."
Lindelof also said the strike was oddly helpful because, "usually we wouldn't have had audience feedback [on the episodes that already aired]. We actually got some feedback, from critics, from our wives." Lindelof added that meant that if something wasn't quite working, "We were allowed to course-correct." He pointed out that in Season 5, "We won't have the luxury of that. We'll be done writing [the season] by February and the show will have premiered shortly before, which quite frankly scares the s**t out of us."
By the end of Season 4, the Oceanic Six had left the island, separating much of the cast. Said Cuse, "Obviously, the turn that is happening with the character of the island is the island is kind of drawing them back. Ben's made it clear that they have to go back. We're excited about the journey of how those six return to the island or contemplate returning to the island."
Lost fans, be aware - The end might not be right around the corner, but we now know it is coming and that there is a set date for when the series will conclude. Variety reports the series will complete its run in 2010, and that next season (the show's fourth) will mark the beginning of some major new scheduling changes for the series.
Rumors sprung up at the end of last week that Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had come to an agreement with ABC to end the series after season five, with Lindelof and Cuse having gone on record as saying they felt this was the right amount of time to complete the story. This announcement seems to mark a compromise, as ABC will have Lost for one more year, through season six, but for about the same amount of episodes they would have if the show had ended two years from now. The reason for this is that Lost will only have 16 episodes a season for its final three years, instead of the usual 22 to 24 episodes they've had in their first three seasons.
These 16 episode seasons will most likely debut in January or February of the television season, and then run uninterrupted, with no repeats. This change in scheduling to less episodes and a longer time in-between seasons is reminiscent of the way most cable series, such as The Sopranos and The Shield, are shown.
Meanwhile ABC has signed Lindelof and Cuse to a new deal that will keep them with Lost until the end of the series. The duo have acknowledged the criticisms they've received which has had some viewers concerned the series had no end in sight and thus contained plotlines that lacked focus, something they hope will be dissipated now that fans know there is a specific time set for the conclusion.
Said Cuse, "I think for story-based shows like Lost, as opposed to franchise-based shows like ER or CSI, the audience wants to know when the story is going to be over. When J.K. Rowling announced that there would be seven Harry Potter books, it gave the readers a clear sense of exactly what their investment would be. We want our audience to do the same."
"In making this deal, Damon and I had two priorities: defining an end point for the show and keeping the quality bar high," Cuse continued. "To do that we are both fully committed to the day-to-day running of the show right up until the very end. It's also why the 16 episodes per year was key for us. Because our show is so mythological, and because, unlike 24, we can't reset each season, we need the extra time fewer episodes affords us to really plan out the specifics of our storytelling."
Lindelof promised Variety that the final 48 episodes comprising Lost's season four through six will definitely be the end of the story, saying "There will be no extensions or enhancements. That number [48] is absolute. Once you begin to see where we're going, I think the idea of sequels and spin-offs will completely go away."
The final episode of Lost, at the end of season six, will be the 119th for the series.
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