Thanks to thedemonhog for the following
Question: I'm dying to have some juicy Lost tidbits. I'll take anything I can get. — Brittany
Ausiello: Damn straight you will! Team Darlton is doing their annual “radio silence” thing, so Lost scoop is at a premium these days. Luckily, I managed to unearth this little morsel: John Terry (Christian) and Alan Dale (Widmore) are in talks to return next season on a recurring basis. Big frakkin’ whoop, right?
Well, here’s where it gets interesting: In the fine print of both their contracts, it states that Lost has the right to pick up series regular options on both actors for the show’s sixth and final season. For insight into what this could possibly portend for Lost’s endgame, please join me in welcoming the man, the myth the legend, guru of all things Lost, Mr. Doc Jensen! “The prospect of expansive roles for Jack's maybe-dead dad and Penelope's dastardly deep-pocketed pop suggests a theory about the Island's true significance. Here is a seemingly-magical place where the lame can walk anew, the impotent can once more shoot bullets, and anyone can crank o! n ancient donkey wheels and leap through time. In other words, the Island provides the means for death-spooked mortals to cheat the grim reaper. I'm betting that's why Old Man Widmore is so desperate to find it. As for Ghost Dad, the Island allows him to stick around in his inexplicable spectral state and might even be facilitating a full-blown bodily resurrection; either scenario represents a violation of the natural order of things. In the end, Jack will no doubt have to convince his father — and possibly his maybe-dead half-sister Claire, too — that they need to move on. Regardless, keeping Terry around portends an emotional climax to Jack's father issue arc.” Really? You got all of that from my one little casting item? Cool.
Source: EW
