Thanks to The ODI for the following.
The producers of Lost offered up a few answers behind the mysteries in season three and a few hints about the upcoming fourth season. The third season drops on DVD on Dec. 11.
Executive producer Carlton Cuse admitted that the people who were on the jet that crashed into the island all have to pay a price for being there. "Yes, and that price is $3.95," he kidded. "In seriousness, the show is about redemption. All the characters on this island are confronting the failures of their past and revisiting issues that go to the core of their emotional make up."
Cuse also 'fessed up about the person in the coffin seen at the very end of season three. Was it someone we've seen before? "Yes," he said without elaboration.
Damon Lindelof, a co-creator and producer, was asked about why the expectations set up for the return of young Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) never seemed to materialize in the third season. Will they be seen again? "Oh, you'll see him again. But you're going to have to be patient. Sorry."
Fans first complained that not enough answers were revealed in the first half of the split-up season, but Cuse said, "We think the balance at the end of the season was right. We see each season of the show like a book. The answers were essential for this book of the show to feel complete."
One of the pressing questions by hardcore fans is how many days the survivors have been on the island. Lindelof said, "By the end of Season Three, the survivors have still be on the island for less than a hundred days ... but don't forget that you may be jumping into the future next year, so anything goes!"
The space-and-time-travel element was explained when the creators nailed down an end-time for the series. "When ABC/Disney allowed us to end the show in 48 more episodes, it was time to begin a new modality of storytelling, which includes flash-forwards," Cused said. "The show is like a mosaic. There are tiles in the present, in the past and now in the future as well. When all the tiles are in place, the story of Lost will be complete."
The third season seems to push Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Jack (Matthew Fox) even further apart and more toward Sawyer (Josh Holloway), but the last episode muddied the waters a bit. Cuse teased, "The Jack/Kate/Sawyer triangle is something that will go on for a long time. And who says they don't have a chance?"
The creators don't think of their characters as ambiguous when it comes to good and evil, specifically Ben (Michael Emerson) and Locke (Terry O'Quinn). "We would use the word complex," Cuse said. "We are interested in exploring how good and evil can be embodied in the same characters and the struggles we all have to overcome the dark parts of our souls."
The unveiling of Jacob, the mysterious leader of the Others, didn't necessarily satisfy questions in season three. "If you felt the unveiling of Jacob provided answers, you are probably in the minority! We felt it was important to introduce Jacob as more than just a name at this point as he will become important downstream," Cuse said. The fourth season of Lost starts Feb. 6.
Source: SCI FI
