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Could There Be LOST Beyond Season Six? Creators say Maybe, but how?

Posted by Jon Lachonis on September 8th, 2009 - Comments

Rewind your brain-tape. It’s LOST season 3, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have stuck their lead characters in cages for the first six episodes. Whether intentional or not, the duo – affectionately known as ‘Darlton’ by their fans – will go on to talk about how the caging was symbolic of LOST’s story being held captive by ABC’s refusal to let them plan an end date. Conventional wisdom amongst network executives would be to do such planning when the ratings were in the tank, far less than ideal timing, but Carlton and Damon had a more powerful voice to contend with – the voice of angry fans who felt the show was moving too slowly. So they got their end date, and the rest is history. Are fans necessarily happy with that, though?

Actually, a lot of LOST fans would have sided with the network executives on this one. Some of LOST’s viewers were pretty typical TV watchers that weren’t all that wound up in the mythology of the island. LOST could go on forever as far as they were concerned. As LOST’s narrative accelerated away from semi-episodic to out and out serial, some fans couldn’t keep up. It’s pretty standard to find back-sliding LOST fans who now only watch when the DVD sets are released. A few extreme LOST fans have given up on chaptered viewing altogether, choosing to wait for the story to end before they ‘catch up.’ LOST’s transition from series to mega-serial has affected the viewing habits of its fans like no other show in history.

For those who were not happy with the end date set by ABC, a little bit of hope came via Executive Producer Carlton Cuse. Cuse, along with Lindelof and Writers Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, appeared at Bumbershoot, a Music and Arts festival in Seattle. The writer’s confirmed that they would not be involved with LOST once their story was finished, but Cuse went on to bring the voice of reason: LOST is a powerful franchise, and Disney would be crazy not to continue it in some way.

What way would work though? If Cuse and Lindelof leave the island standing in the conclusion of their Magnum Opus, could the island become host to a future adventure? Could certain characters go on to have spin-offs? In calculating the possibilities, it is hard to come up with a return-vehicle for the LOST franchise that doesn’t seem contrived, or down-right stupid. None-the-less, in a world brimming with brilliant writers there can be no doubt that somewhere the formula exists to repopulate the world of LOST with exciting characters and deep new mysteries, the question is would fans watch?

So let’s throw the question out to you. Would you accept a new LOST?

Source: Podstillery

About the Author:
Jon Lachonis is perhaps best known as DocArzt, the LOST blogger behind such sites as DocArzt.com and formerly TheTailsection. As an arm-chair pundit of the TV scene, Jon's writing has appeared on BuddyTV, CraveOnline, and UGO. His book, co-written with Amy J. Johnston, LOST Ate My Life is available on Amazon.

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hipster doofus

I can't believe he said that. Now I'm scared. I thought there was nothing left to tell once this was over? How could Disney even continue, if their story is so perfect?
Crap.

Jon Lachonis

I wouldn't be concerned about this story. Damon and Carlton are going to finish it how they want to finish it, and the oceanic 815 story will be over - I think. But this fact has always existed, Disney owns LOST - it would unrealistic to think they are going to warehouse it permanently.

That said, though, a new series is MY question - not what is being planned.

hipster doofus

Oh ok. Thanks for the reply. I put more detailed thoughts below. As with any sci-fi type cult hits like Lost, I think books are inevitable. No new stories though. I just want filler for everything I already know. Here are my two biggest questions that I know won't be answered:

1)In season 1, Kate receives a letter telling her about her mother's condition. It is never revealed who wrote it.
2) In Season 3, I think, Sayid was digging some sort of deep hole, but they never went back to it. What the hell was that?

Yeah, I'm obsessive, but not the kind of obsessive who will be annoyed if all of my questions aren't answered. Whatever they give me, I will love and appreciate, because this TV show is the greatest thing ever. Nothing they could do in Season 6 could possibly change that.

hipster doofus

The only thing I would be okay with are sanctioned books filling in specific holes that fans have. Specifically -- More Others backstory. Who was Karl? What's the deal with pregnancy? And then really detailed Dharma stuff. Trials and tribulations with dealing with hostiles/others. What exactly happened when Dharma got to the island? Who really founded it? When did they really get there? Maybe something about the Black Rock.

Maybe we can know what Sawyer's "Tampa Job" was? Or when Juliet mysteriously mentioned "What happened in Basra" to Sayid. And LIBBY! Of course Libby. I know it wouldn't be coming from Darlton, but I'd read it.

How about "The life and times of Jacob" or something. I want to know every little detail of his life. They could probably do a series of books on whatever ancient culture built the 4-toed statue and the temple and the smoke monster and stuff. There's a lot to work with there.

Another TV series? No. Backstory-deepening ABC/Darlton sanctioned books? Sure. Maybe comic books, or graphic novels. But NOT another TV show and NOT a movie. Lost is too detailed, too complex to cram into a film. It needs a book.

Casey

I agree hipster doofus, books are the way to go. As for more series, I don't think so. I'm not interested in "LOST: Deep Space Nine."

Ivan

I’m an Italian fan, and the same thing happened here with ratings. For people that usually watch tv without the intention of thinking after the episode about what has just happened and maybe go on the internet to go deeply inside the mithology, LOST is a pretty hard show to follow, expecially if you watch 10 episodes out of 17. It’s not like CSI where the story is always the same (sometimes they change characters). But continuing the LOST franchise after season 6 would be a really bad idea. Can you imagine something after LOTR “The Return Of The King”? It actually wouldn’t be fair for Dartlon, after all the time they’ve spent working on LOST and creating every single detail, without giving us too many information. I love LOST. I think it’s the greatest show ever. I would probably watch a post Darlton- LOST, just out of curiosity, but I feel like it won’t be the same. My biggest dream is to become a screenwriter, and the last thing I would write is “LOST- the sequel” or something like that.
P.S Sorry for my English

Michael Kettle

A film would be an absolutely terrible idea. Plus, Darlton have said they won't release a film that viewers of the show have to pay money to go and see - that'd be unfair.

I could see them doing some kind of book series, tying up loose ends for the die-hard fanbase. It really depends on whether Season 6 is wrapped up in a neat little bow (unlikely) or if it is left open (much more likely). This question may be completely invalid come May. :)

MerlboroMan

I see no problem with a new series. Darlton has made it clear that this is a story about a group of people that landed on this island and how they impacted that island. Keep the island, change the people, get a good story. What's wrong with that?

Hipster Doofus

Because the story would be inevitably and unavoidably worse than the current Lost story. It would tarnish the name of the series forever.

Henry Holland

The only thing I would be okay with are sanctioned books filling in specific holes that fans have. What's the deal with pregnancy?

I thought it was pretty clear that burying a leaking atomic bomb under the Barracks at New Otherton was the reason pregnancies were so dicey for Ben and The Others.

Or when Juliet mysteriously mentioned "What happened in Basra" to Sayid.

Not so mysterious: Sayid was part of Saddam's Repulican Guard, the RG violently put down a rebellion in Basra in the early 90's. Juliet was pointing out how he was a torturer and oppresor.

And LIBBY! Of course Libby. I know it wouldn't be coming from Darlton, but I'd read it.

They totally dropped the ball on Libby. So, I think some of your list --hey, what about Mikhail?!?!-- I think some of your list has been answered, but of course there's still a ton of unanswered questions out there...

Hipster Doofus

I never really gave a crap about Mikhail, but yeah, I guess his backstory might be interesting. They could throw Kelvin Inman in there too.

And so what if I want to see specifically what happened in Basra, or a real explanation as to what the pregnancy deal is. If it was just radiation, something that is measurable and detectable, Juliet probably would have noticed.

That's what these stupid little throwaway books are for. Information nobody but the most devoted fan could ever want to know.

wnt2kno

I think this would be great -- I'd love to see more about Dharma and their experiments - maybe the mysteries of the universe clips are the market research on it. Heck, i'd like to see more about the pirate ship too.

Crazy Bearded Jack

I think they should do another game - a GOOD one this time.

Jaye

total mistake to do anything beyond season six. it would only drag out the story and destroy the tight writing etc. if they want to milk the franchise, they could novelize the eps, do more action figures and cheesy tie in merch, comic book versions etc. but let the story be the story. a Lost:The Next Generation is a horrid idea.

Tony

I'm personally pumped that Disney has the rights to Lost. I thought about it constantly at Disney World this summer...The Island! It could be their next park, they buy an island in the south Pacific and add the Disney Magic to make it a Lost Adventure you can take your whole family on, I would pay thousands and thousands to do that!