"LOST" to End in 2010

[RebelMan]

"LOST" Will End ...Sometime

Producers say they'd like to go out before they go down

By Rick Porter
January 14, 2007

LOS ANGELES -- The producers of "Lost" say they've started talking to ABC about when the show could, and should, end.

The idea, showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof said Sunday at the Television Critics Association press tour, is to go out while the show is still strong creatively; Lindelof says they want to do the show for "as long as it's good."

Lindelof has long said he envisions the story as taking about 100 episodes to tell.

"Somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 to 100 episodes was going to be a version of 'Lost' where we never had to do the bad season, the stall season, where we had to back off the story we wanted to tell," Lindelof says. "Season one is the introduction, season two is the hatch, season three is the Others, I don't want to tell you what season four is going to be, and then there's a wrapup season."

By the end of next season, "Lost" will have aired 93 episodes, Lindelof says, "and I imagine that would be very close to where it would end ideally."

It doesn't sound, however, that any announcement about the series finale is imminent. Stephen McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment, says that while he and the show's producers have informally discussed the "beginning, middle and end" of the series, there haven't been any formal talks about an end date.

Cuse, too, says that looking ahead to a finale now is "kind of a trick question. We're in the process of figuring that out now. It would be disrespectful to the process of those discussions for us to say, 'This is exactly when it should end, right here.'"

McPherson does allow, though, that he'd prefer to have a workable plan for the show's endgame, rather than letting it "peter out."

There's also the possibility that "Lost" could continue without its original team, but Lindelof says he doesn't have the sense that would happen.

"The good news about a guy like Steve or [Touchstone TV chief] Mark Pedowitz is that we all kind of looked at each other at the very beginning and said, By the grace of God will this show even survive 13 episodes," Lindelof says. "So we're able now, Carlton and I, to sit down with them and say, 'Remember at the very beginning when you were having us convince you that this thing could go for years and years, and we all agreed it couldn't? Now just because it's successful it doesn't mean that's changed.' ...

"We were surprised when we went to ABC and started having that conversation. As opposed to them saying, 'Fine, we'll bring on new people,' they said, 'When do you think it should end?' Then the conversations began. Obviously they want the show to go on as long as possible, and all we can say is there's a show with us running it and a show without us running it, and if you want the show with us running it, this is when we think it should end."

[Stogieman]

They should end it after this season. The first season was good but these last 2 season seem to drag on way too long. They need to move the story along and quit telling each character's back story with flashbacks. Enough already. It's season 3, the characters are already well established.

I like this show. I'll be sad to see it go, but they'd be making the right decision to end it before it starts to show any hint of decline.

[RebelMan]

"LOST" to End in 2010
Source: Variety
May 7, 2007


ABC has agreed to let the producers of "Lost" set an expiration date for the series -- three years in the future, reports Variety.

The series will now wrap after the production of 48 additional episodes that will be divided into three, shortened 16-episode seasons. The final episode -- the show's 119th -- will air during the 2009-10 season.

"Lost" showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have signed new multi-year overall deals with ABC Television Studio to continue with the series until the end. The duo had made setting a wrap date for the show a condition for staying.

Lindelof and Cuse had wanted "Lost" to end after two more seasons. They're essentially still getting their wish: The 48 episodes they'll produce over the next three years is the same number the show produced during its first two seasons.

ABC execs, however, came up with a way to keep "Lost" on its schedule for three more seasons. What's more, the 16-episode arcs will run without repeats (a la "24"), allowing ABC to make the show more of an event.

Lindelof and Cuse, who are putting the finishing touches on the third-season finale, released a joint statement praising what they termed "a bold and unprecedented move for ABC" and thanking McPherson and Pedowitz for making it.

Cuse added that he hoped more shows will be able to follow the "Lost" lead and declare an end date.

"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," Cuse wrote. "When J.K. 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."

The show's end game is expected to kick into high gear later this month with the broadcast of the season finale.

[crazymiles]

i agree, but this is LOST fellas, cmon.

it wont let ya down.

6 seasons seems about right. but that IS a lot.

but who k nows, there are a lot of un answered questions.