An end to the castaways’ ordeal on the island is in sight, but not for another three years. ABC has made the unusual move of setting an end date for a flagship series years in advance, confirming that Lost will be wrapped up in 2010.
It’s been well publicised that the creative forces behind the show didn’t want the islanders’ saga to continue indefinitely, and showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had apparently made confirming an endpoint a condition for staying on board. They’ve got their wish, and will now see the story through to its conclusion after signing new deals.
While Lindelof and Cuse had originally intended to give the story another two seasons, ABC has managed to stretch it to three by reducing the number of episodes each year; three 16-part seasons will contain the same amount of TV as two 24-parters, and everybody’s happy! There’s also talk that season four will premiere in January rather than September, allowing the series to air without the interruptions and lengthy hiatus that were blamed for falling ratings this year.
"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," said Cuse. "When JK 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. 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." Hopefully three years will be plenty of time for them to work out what Lost is really all about and answer all those damn questions.
Thanks to Variety.
