Thanks to sgeureka for the heads up.
Producers of ABC's Lost offered SCI FI Wire a few spoilers for the upcoming fourth season and said that more questions will be answered and more flashbacks and flash-forwards likely when the show returns early next year.
Executive producer and co-creator Damon Lindelof said the fourth season will continue "to answer and ask a lot of questions." But, he added, "season four is going to be a whole new show in a lot of ways. We're really excited with what we're doing and hope that it'll offer as many surprises as the finale did."
Among the spoilers Lindelof revealed: "Michael [Harold Perrineau] is coming back. Definitely. As for Walt [Michael's young son, played by Malcolm David Kelley], we've always known Malcolm was going to grow faster than we could shoot the show. And we planned for it. Trust us. Please trust us."
The show's producers have already figured out what they will do with the mysterious character of Jacob, who was introduced at the end of season three. Picking his words carefully, executive producer Carlton Cuse said, "Yes, we do know how Jacob will be depicted. Notice the careful wording of my answer. And no, Jacob did not appear before he was met by Locke." Cuse also declined to say whether an actor had been chosen to portray the character.
Flashbacks will continue to explain the backgrounds of some of the characters, but there will also be glimpses into the future, the producers said. (In the season finale, viewers saw what appeared to be a flash-florward to Jack [Matthew Fox] and Kate [Evangeline Lilly] after they had been rescued from the island.)
The producers said that it is inevitable that the time-bending story of Lost will continue to use both looks backward and forward. "It's absolutely inevitable, not to migrate completely away from flashbacks, but at least to find a new paradigm for storytelling that changed up the nature of the show," Cuse said. "Moving forwards, you'll get a mix. Every week will hopefully be a guessing game as to not just WHO will be focused on, but WHEN we're focusing on them. Flash-forwards will be a part of season four, yes."
The reverberations of the death of Charlie Hieronymus Pace, played by Lord of the Rings's Dominic Monaghan, at the end of the last season will inevitably continue at the beginning of season four. "The reverberation of that death echoes right into the premiere of season four," Lindelof said.
Source: SCIFI - Wire