Some 'Lost' Tidbits

OK fellow “Losties,” all we have to do now is get through the holidays, and then we can start drooling in anticipation of the sixth and final season of “Lost.”
Since the fifth season ended last May with Juliet setting off the H Bomb, we have waited in anticipation to find out if her “ploy” worked. (As if setting off an H Bomb would ever just be a “ploy,” but to addicted “Lost” fans the move made perfect sense.)
Now over five months have passed, and I decided to conduct a little research in an effort to discover any clues about the coming season. Lo and behold, I found a recent interview with “Lost” executive producer Damon Lindelof, in which he revealed a few tidbits that I thought it important to pass on to you guys.
Moreover, at a Q and A at the recent Comic.Con, Lindelof and fellow exec producer Carlton Cuse also revealed some additional facts related to the coming season
But before passing on these reveals, I first have to relate a fascinating “Lost” –“True Blood” factoid that my research uncovered. And that is that Carrie Preston, who played Sookie’s friend and fellow Merlot’s waitress, Arlene Fowler, is married in real life to Michael Emerson, who plays my favorite character Benjamin Linus on “Lost.” But what is even more interesting is the fact that Carrie also appeared on “Lost,” as Ben’s mother, Emily, who in a flashback died shortly after giving birth to baby Ben!
How about that?
Anyway, here’s what I discovered:
* ABC has yet to announce when season six will begin. But Lindelof said that it would have to be in mid-January, as there will be 16 episodes that must conclude during the May sweeps. They are filming a total of 18 hours, as the premiere and final episode will both be two hours in length.
* This season will definitely be the end of the “Lost” saga. There will be no movie, spin off show, or reunion show. The “Lost” story will be concluded this May and Lindelof assures everyone that all the questions that people have about the show will be answered.
* When asked if the show’s ending is what they originally planned, Lindelof replied “Yes, the actual ending ending is exactly the same as we'd always planned on it being, except we didn't know if we were going to get there after two seasons, four seasons or after six seasons, so the road to the ending has had to change significantly.”
* He was reluctant to answer questions about specific characters, but he did say that pilot Frank Lapidus will be a main character this season.
* At Comic.Con, Lindelof and Cuse assured questioners that both Juliet and Daniel Faraday will “appear” in season six. Of course that doesn’t mean that they will be alive in the present; then again, when or where the “present” is on “Lost” are not simple questions.
* They added that the mysterious Richard Alpert’s back story will be revealed.
* Very interestingly, the producers said that the Dharma Initiative will NOT be the focus of this season. This must indicate that the H Bomb did destroy the Dharmas…I guess.
* Lindelof mentioned that certain external circumstances beyond the producers’ control have played a role in some plot developments. He cited as examples the fact that Walt’s character’s role had to be limited because the child actor playing him was growing so fast. And that Mr. Eko had to be written out of the show because the actor playing him did not feel at home in Hawaii.
* One character who according to Lindelof has played a “significant role” on the show but was not a series regular will not be in season six because he or she just did not want to return.
* As for the numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) that I am sure many of us have played in various lotteries, Lindelof said that in the final season they “would be enormously remiss if we were to not evaluate the numbers and their significance.
Well, that’s about all the dirt I could dig up. Now we just have to “fast forward” ourselves past Thanksgiving, Xmas, and New Years, so we can catch the final “Lost” season.
I can hardly wait.