Here is an interview Carlton did for IGN......
IGN DVD: Now that the DVD for Season Two is coming out, how would you distinguish it from Season One?
Carlton Cuse: I think Season One was the initial condition of crashing on this island and these characters being in denial about their situation and having to terms of probably we're not going to get off of here and when that raft blows up and Walt is taken, it's like 'okay, we're stuck here'. Season Two was about the hatch and metaphorically going deeper inside the island. That was the focus of Season Two - what is that hatch, who put it there, who are these people and then when we blow it up at the end, we sort of told the story of the hatch. Season Three is going to focus on the Others - there are these other people on the island, who are they and what are they about, what is the construct of their society, and how do our characters interact with them. Each season is like a book, like the Harry Potter series. Each one has its own character and shape and I think that's kind of the way the three seasons lay out. This season will be lighter, a little funner, and more romance and action/adventure. Last year was more mythology-oriented, and the first year was kind of a combination of mythology and action/adventure with no romance basically.
IGN: Last year Damon [Lindelof] kind of indicated he had four seasons of material thought out. Now that it's kind of a juggernaut, have you planned past four seasons?
Cuse: We have a mythology and we have an end episode, and the question is how long can the show sustain? I think in a perfect world, we would love to end the show after four or five seasons, but ABC is making a lot of money on the show and that's their prerogative. It's kind of trying to find a happy medium on how long we can sustain the show and have it be good. I mean, we don't want to basically do the show beyond - it's a story and meant to come to an end. It's not a franchise like Grey's Anatomy where there's always another patient that's going to come wheeling into the ER. This show has a beginning and it has an end, the question is when do we get there.
IGN: The thing with the show is at what point do you reveal this information and at what point do you create new mysteries, like Twin Peaks. What's the challenge in knowing how much to reveal and telling stories that people don't mind that you're not revealing anything?
Cuse: I think the lesson we learned from Twin Peaks is you have to provide answers along the way and so we've tried to answer questions along the way. If you look over the course of last season, we did answer a lot of questions and we really paid a lot of attention to that at the finale - I mean all of the questions about the hatch and Desmond and Kelvin - you know, we tried to answer a lot of questions. At the same time, if you don't have new questions, the show is over. It's like, if you solved your mysteries, the audience loses its compulsion to watch - so it's a daily dilemma. Damon and I, we literally sit down for breakfast and have some form of that conversation, which is how much do we spill, how much do we hold. You just have to kind of trust your gut and so far, it feels like it's working okay. You can't think too far in the future and future-trip about it and think is that going to work in 25 episodes. Right now we have a good plan for this year, we're really excited about it, and it's going to be really good. We feel at the end of this season, we still have some stories to tell.
IGN: How much do you take into account the fan reactions?
Cuse: We took it hugely into account in writing the finale for Season Two - we really said okay, we're going to answer questions. In fact, when we watched the first cut of the finale it was like, oh my gosh - is this too pedantic' because so much of it was just answers and dealing with a lot of expositional information. So yeah - our attempt to answer questions in the finale for Season Two was in direct response to our perception that fans didn't feel we answered questions in the finale of Season One.
IGN DVD: We heard the season was going to be broken up a little bit…
Carlton Cuse: It's going to be six episodes and then 17. The whole season will focus on the Others. That's what Season Three is all about - our characters interacting with the Others. And obviously, the first six episodes are going to focus on what we set up on last up on the finale last year, the fact that Jack, Kate and Sawyer are in captivity, the fact that the hatch blew up. And also, there's Sayid, Sun and Jin off on a sailboat and what's going to happen to them, so there's a lot of balls up in the air. All those things will get addressed in the first six episodes and then, obviously, new story complications will arise and there's going to be a great cliffhanger at the end of Episode Six which, hopefully, will keep everybody chomping at the bit for the shows return in February. Then we'll run straight through May.
IGN: How do you feel about that?
Cuse: We love it. We totally love it, because when Lost is on, it's on, and when it's not on, it's not. There's no confusion in the audience, there's no frustration with our repeats. We don't lose the momentum of our storytelling and it's been really fun to construct a six-episode story arc. It's been really, really enjoyable
IGN: How involved are you in the other cross-promotional stuff created for the series?
Cuse: Depends on the individual thing. The Lost Experience, Damon and I kind of came up with it. There's a guy named Jordan Rosenbrook who wrote it, but we conceptualized it and we are going to write these mobisodes that are going to be coming out between the 1st season and the 2nd part of season 3. Those are the things we're putting most of our time into, but we have meetings on all these things - the mobisodes, the video games. I mean, there are so many ancillary products. But the thing that we really have to realize constantly and focus on is that if the mothership isn't good, though, none of this other stuff really matters. There are only so many hours in a day. But really the mobisodes and the Experience are the two things that we put the most time into.
IGN: You say the focus will be on the Others. The current cast will be interacting with them?
Cuse: We're sort of seeing the Others through the eyes of our characters. They are the window from which we learn about this other group of people on the island.
IGN: Will we see a more likeable side to The Others?
Cuse: Yeah, they actually have a comedy talent show which is going… (laughs). What you think about the Others now is not the complete story. There's a lot more to know about them and I think you'll have a very different view of them after the end of this season and certainly even as the season goes along, the Others are going to change.
IGN: Can you give us a hint as to what Emily's character is going to be up to?
Cuse: Well, Emily and Charlie, that relationship is something we love. They had their big kiss at the end of last season and I think that's the start of something.
IGN: You previously said you're going to focus more on the love interests of some of the characters and relationships.
Cuse: Yes, I think it's time in the show to do that. We had a lot of mythology in the show last year and I think we're just interested writing wise, Damon and I, in telling stories more on a romantic side and more action-adventure this year. There will be plenty of weird stuff in the show this year for those who love Lost for the unexpected twists and turns but that's what we're really focusing on.
IGN: Who do you think would be better for Kate, Jack or Sawyer?
Cuse: That's going to be for Kate to decide. They both have their virtues. Who would you choose? I like Sawyer because he's a lot cooler than me but that doesn't mean she's going to choose him. We'll have to see.
IGN: If someone asked you what's the reason to watch Season Two on DVD, what's the reason you'd give them?
Cuse: There's something watching the show continuously and having all the episodes and having eight hours of bonus features. The show has such an arc this season from beginning to end, opening the hatch to blowing it up at the end, that having the ability to watch those episodes continuously is great. And everybody I know who gets the DVD set, starts watching them, gets hooked and addicted and they're like 'oh my God, I didn't get out of the house for eight hours. I've been watching DVDs' - and they're beautifully done. We really make the show for the DVDs. We shoot it in widescreen format, we make it in surround sound Dolby and most people don't get to see that normally. When we finish up, we're always thinking how it's going to show up on DVD.
IGN: And your favorite of the bonus materials?
Cuse: My favorite thing is all of Sawyer's insults strung together. I can't believe we thought of that many insults for him to throw out at everybody. It's just a good moment.
Source: IGN.com
Carlton Cuse: I think Season One was the initial condition of crashing on this island and these characters being in denial about their situation and having to terms of probably we're not going to get off of here and when that raft blows up and Walt is taken, it's like 'okay, we're stuck here'. Season Two was about the hatch and metaphorically going deeper inside the island. That was the focus of Season Two - what is that hatch, who put it there, who are these people and then when we blow it up at the end, we sort of told the story of the hatch. Season Three is going to focus on the Others - there are these other people on the island, who are they and what are they about, what is the construct of their society, and how do our characters interact with them. Each season is like a book, like the Harry Potter series. Each one has its own character and shape and I think that's kind of the way the three seasons lay out. This season will be lighter, a little funner, and more romance and action/adventure. Last year was more mythology-oriented, and the first year was kind of a combination of mythology and action/adventure with no romance basically.
IGN: Last year Damon [Lindelof] kind of indicated he had four seasons of material thought out. Now that it's kind of a juggernaut, have you planned past four seasons?
Cuse: We have a mythology and we have an end episode, and the question is how long can the show sustain? I think in a perfect world, we would love to end the show after four or five seasons, but ABC is making a lot of money on the show and that's their prerogative. It's kind of trying to find a happy medium on how long we can sustain the show and have it be good. I mean, we don't want to basically do the show beyond - it's a story and meant to come to an end. It's not a franchise like Grey's Anatomy where there's always another patient that's going to come wheeling into the ER. This show has a beginning and it has an end, the question is when do we get there.
IGN: The thing with the show is at what point do you reveal this information and at what point do you create new mysteries, like Twin Peaks. What's the challenge in knowing how much to reveal and telling stories that people don't mind that you're not revealing anything?
Cuse: I think the lesson we learned from Twin Peaks is you have to provide answers along the way and so we've tried to answer questions along the way. If you look over the course of last season, we did answer a lot of questions and we really paid a lot of attention to that at the finale - I mean all of the questions about the hatch and Desmond and Kelvin - you know, we tried to answer a lot of questions. At the same time, if you don't have new questions, the show is over. It's like, if you solved your mysteries, the audience loses its compulsion to watch - so it's a daily dilemma. Damon and I, we literally sit down for breakfast and have some form of that conversation, which is how much do we spill, how much do we hold. You just have to kind of trust your gut and so far, it feels like it's working okay. You can't think too far in the future and future-trip about it and think is that going to work in 25 episodes. Right now we have a good plan for this year, we're really excited about it, and it's going to be really good. We feel at the end of this season, we still have some stories to tell.
IGN: How much do you take into account the fan reactions?
Cuse: We took it hugely into account in writing the finale for Season Two - we really said okay, we're going to answer questions. In fact, when we watched the first cut of the finale it was like, oh my gosh - is this too pedantic' because so much of it was just answers and dealing with a lot of expositional information. So yeah - our attempt to answer questions in the finale for Season Two was in direct response to our perception that fans didn't feel we answered questions in the finale of Season One.
IGN DVD: We heard the season was going to be broken up a little bit…
Carlton Cuse: It's going to be six episodes and then 17. The whole season will focus on the Others. That's what Season Three is all about - our characters interacting with the Others. And obviously, the first six episodes are going to focus on what we set up on last up on the finale last year, the fact that Jack, Kate and Sawyer are in captivity, the fact that the hatch blew up. And also, there's Sayid, Sun and Jin off on a sailboat and what's going to happen to them, so there's a lot of balls up in the air. All those things will get addressed in the first six episodes and then, obviously, new story complications will arise and there's going to be a great cliffhanger at the end of Episode Six which, hopefully, will keep everybody chomping at the bit for the shows return in February. Then we'll run straight through May.
IGN: How do you feel about that?
Cuse: We love it. We totally love it, because when Lost is on, it's on, and when it's not on, it's not. There's no confusion in the audience, there's no frustration with our repeats. We don't lose the momentum of our storytelling and it's been really fun to construct a six-episode story arc. It's been really, really enjoyable
IGN: How involved are you in the other cross-promotional stuff created for the series?
Cuse: Depends on the individual thing. The Lost Experience, Damon and I kind of came up with it. There's a guy named Jordan Rosenbrook who wrote it, but we conceptualized it and we are going to write these mobisodes that are going to be coming out between the 1st season and the 2nd part of season 3. Those are the things we're putting most of our time into, but we have meetings on all these things - the mobisodes, the video games. I mean, there are so many ancillary products. But the thing that we really have to realize constantly and focus on is that if the mothership isn't good, though, none of this other stuff really matters. There are only so many hours in a day. But really the mobisodes and the Experience are the two things that we put the most time into.
IGN: You say the focus will be on the Others. The current cast will be interacting with them?
Cuse: We're sort of seeing the Others through the eyes of our characters. They are the window from which we learn about this other group of people on the island.
IGN: Will we see a more likeable side to The Others?
Cuse: Yeah, they actually have a comedy talent show which is going… (laughs). What you think about the Others now is not the complete story. There's a lot more to know about them and I think you'll have a very different view of them after the end of this season and certainly even as the season goes along, the Others are going to change.
IGN: Can you give us a hint as to what Emily's character is going to be up to?
Cuse: Well, Emily and Charlie, that relationship is something we love. They had their big kiss at the end of last season and I think that's the start of something.
IGN: You previously said you're going to focus more on the love interests of some of the characters and relationships.
Cuse: Yes, I think it's time in the show to do that. We had a lot of mythology in the show last year and I think we're just interested writing wise, Damon and I, in telling stories more on a romantic side and more action-adventure this year. There will be plenty of weird stuff in the show this year for those who love Lost for the unexpected twists and turns but that's what we're really focusing on.
IGN: Who do you think would be better for Kate, Jack or Sawyer?
Cuse: That's going to be for Kate to decide. They both have their virtues. Who would you choose? I like Sawyer because he's a lot cooler than me but that doesn't mean she's going to choose him. We'll have to see.
IGN: If someone asked you what's the reason to watch Season Two on DVD, what's the reason you'd give them?
Cuse: There's something watching the show continuously and having all the episodes and having eight hours of bonus features. The show has such an arc this season from beginning to end, opening the hatch to blowing it up at the end, that having the ability to watch those episodes continuously is great. And everybody I know who gets the DVD set, starts watching them, gets hooked and addicted and they're like 'oh my God, I didn't get out of the house for eight hours. I've been watching DVDs' - and they're beautifully done. We really make the show for the DVDs. We shoot it in widescreen format, we make it in surround sound Dolby and most people don't get to see that normally. When we finish up, we're always thinking how it's going to show up on DVD.
IGN: And your favorite of the bonus materials?
Cuse: My favorite thing is all of Sawyer's insults strung together. I can't believe we thought of that many insults for him to throw out at everybody. It's just a good moment.
Source: IGN.com
