The sixth and final season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing in the United States and Canada on February 2, 2010.^[3] The sixth-season premiere was the first to climb in the ratings year-over-year since the second season, drawing 12.1 million viewers.^[4] The series finale will air on May 23, 2010.^[2] The season continues the stories of the survivors of the fictional September 22, 2004 crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 on a mysterious island in the South Pacific. The survivors must deal with two outcomes of the detonation of a nuclear bomb on the island in the 1970s. While the on-island story continues, "flash sideways"^[5] show a second timeline, in which Flight 815 never crashes. The season is reportedly scheduled to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 24, 2010, alongside a complete series boxset.^[6]

Production

On May 7, 2007, ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson announced that Lost will end during the 2009–2010 season with a "highly anticipated and shocking finale."^[7] "We felt that this was the only way to give Lost a proper creative conclusion," McPherson said.^[7] Beginning with the 2007–2008 television season, the final 48 episodes would have been aired as three seasons with 16 episodes each, with Lost concluding in its sixth season. Due to the writers' strike, the fourth season featured 14 episodes, and Season 5 had 17 episodes. Season 6 was planned to have 17 episodes, too.^[8] However, on June 29 it was announced that the final season will feature an additional hour, making the number of episodes 18.^[1]

Executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse stated that they "always envisioned Lost as a show with a beginning, middle, and end," and that by announcing when the show would end that viewers would "have the security of knowing that the story will play out as we've intended."^[7] Lindelof and Cuse stated that securing the 2010 series-end date "was immensely liberating" and helped the series rediscover its focus.^[9] Lindelof noted, "We're no longer stalling."^[9] The producers also plan to wrap up long-standing mysteries, such as the nature of the smoke monster, the four-toed statue of Taweret, the identity of the Adam & Eve skeletons from the season one episode "House of the Rising Sun",^[10] and the reason the Dharma periodic resupply drops continue after the purge.^[11] However, Lindelof has later hinted that whoever built the statue will not be addressed.^[12] The producer has also indicated that Walt's unusual abilities may be explained, although this may not necessarily require the character's direct involvement.^[13] Regarding Richard Alpert's background, Nestor Carbonell stated, "You're going to get all your answers: Why doesn't he age? Where's he from? What his powers might be? Who he is? And there is one specific episode that deals with all of that. I was blown away by what they wrote."^[14] Matthew Fox said in an interview that in the final season, the characters of Jack Shephard and John Locke "will come head to head." A third of the way through the final season, the two time lines will be "solidified into one" and "will be very linear – no more flashbacks, nothing." ^[15] He has also claimed to be the only cast member who knows the ending of the series,^[16] though Lindelof has clarified that Fox only knows things that are relevant to his character.^[17]

During Comic-Con 2009, numerous sixth season reports were made. Carlton Cuse stated both the time travel and flash-forward seasons were over, and they're moving into something different for the sixth season.^[18] Josh Holloway stated his character Sawyer would revert to his old self after the loss of Juliet.^[18] Though Cuse and Lindelof stated that the Dharma Initiative will no longer play a large role in the show,^[19] they have said that the "Dharma-Michigan connection" will play a significant role in season six.^[20] Lindelof has stated that the producers had a direct hand in the production of the season six promotional poster that was first displayed at Comic-Con, and that everything in it is intentional; he also made a reference to the Abbey Road cover in connection to the poster.^[13] Season six is the first and only season of Lost ever to not feature any kind of preview or official promotional material such as sneak peeks and promo pictures for future episodes since the Lost producers consider any single frame from the first episodes to be too revealing. According to Lindelof, "even a single scene from the show would basically tip what it is we're doing this year, and what it is we're doing this year is different than what we've done in other years".^[21][22][23] Lindelof has also emphasized that the flash-sideways are important, stating "People are saying [they] don't need these stories and all we can say is they're absolutely 100 percent necessary to tell the story of Lost, and hopefully by the end of the season it will be more obvious as to why."^[24]

Cast

The cast features fifteen major roles with star billing, eleven of whom return from the fifth season,^[3] in addition to three new regular cast members and one who returns from the fourth season. The latter half of the previous season follows two storylines, as such the cast is roughly divided into two groups. The first storyline follows the group of people who have been stuck in 1977 and detonated a an nuclear bomb (the core of a hydrogen bomb) on the island in an attempt to change the timeline: the survivors' leader Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), former fugitive Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), millionaire Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia), former torturer Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), con artist James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), medium Miles Straume (Ken Leung), and former mob-enforcer Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim). The second storyline follows the group of people who are on the island in the present day of late 2007: Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim), who has returned to the island in search of her husband, Jin; Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), former leader of the island's native population, known as the Others; deceased crash survivor John Locke (Terry O'Quinn);^[25] pilot Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey), Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), an ageless advisor to the Others, and mysterious Flight 316 leader Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson). Carbonell was named a main cast member by the executive producers at Comic-Con 2009, after guest starring in the previous three seasons,^[26] and Fahey has been confirmed by Lindelof as part of the season six main cast.^[13] Robinson was confirmed to be part of the main cast in a press release, after guest starring in the fifth season.^[3] Also returning is Emilie de Ravin, who was absent during the fifth season and placed on a holding contract in order to reprise her role in the final season as Claire Littleton, a new mother who is last seen in a moving cabin with her deceased father.^[27][28] Henry Ian Cusick reprises his role as Desmond Hume, who has left the island and lives with his wife Penny (Sonya Walger), who is also returning.^[29] Cusick was not billed as a regular in the press release, but he is in the episodes, including those in which he does not appear.

Several former cast members are scheduled to return to the show, or have been asked back.^[30] Elizabeth Mitchell returns as fertility specialist Dr. Juliet Burke. Mitchell has stated that her return is "instrumental to the story".^[31] Dominic Monaghan is slated to return as deceased rock star Charlie Pace in four episodes.^[32][33] The producers have also confirmed that Jeremy Davies will return as deceased physicist Daniel Faraday in multiple episodes.^[18] Ian Somerhalder also returns as deceased Flight 815 crash survivor Boone Carlyle in several episodes.^[34] Rebecca Mader, who portrays anthropologist Charlotte Lewis, has also confirmed that she is returning.^[35] The producers have also confirmed that Harold Perrineau and Cynthia Watros, who portray Michael Dawson and Libby Smith, respectively, will return in the second half of the season.^[36] About the return of Libby, Cuse stated, "Finally, all of your questions [about Libby] will be answered", however, Lindelof jokingly responded, "No, they will not".^[37] Michelle Rodriguez, another second season star, is set to return as police officer Ana Lucia Cortez, following a brief cameo in the fifth season.^[38] Maggie Grace, who portrays Shannon Rutherford, Boone's stepsister, was asked to return at the beginning of the season, but Grace was unable due to her busy schedule.^[39] It was later reported that she will appear later in the season, instead.^[40] Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who plays the deceased Mr. Eko, wishes to return for the season.^[41][42] Furthermore, the producers wish to bring back the character of Walt Lloyd, however Malcolm David Kelley, who portrays Walt, has aged significantly and the producers are working to overcome this obstacle.^[33]

Recurring characters who are expected to return include: Jack and Claire's father, Dr. Christian Shephard (John Terry), wealthy industrialist and former Other Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), former Other Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), Locke's ex-girlfriend, Helen Norwood (Katey Sagal), Hurley's former boss, Randy Nations (Billy Ray Gallion), mysterious Flight 316 passenger Bram (Brad William Henke), Sayid's wife, Nadia (Andrea Gabriel), deceased Frenchwoman Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan, Melissa Farman), deceased one-eyed Other Mikhail Bakunin (Andrew Divoff), mercenaries Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand) and Omar (Anthony Azizi), and Vincent, a dog who survived the crash of Flight 815 and lives on the island.^{[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]} Furthermore, Greg Grunberg briefly reprises his role as Flight 815 pilot Seth Norris in a voice over in the season premiere.^[51] Mark Pellegrino reprises his role as Jacob, the mysterious figure in charge of the island,^[52] while Titus Welliver will also reprise his role as the mysterious unnamed character who appeared to be antagonistic to him in the season 5 finale.^[53] L. Scott Caldwell and Sam Anderson repirsed their roles as Rose and Bernard, as does Kimberley Joseph who plays 815 stewardess-turned-Other Cindy.

Several new recurring characters will be introduced in the sixth season. Deadwood actor John Hawkes was cast to portray a character named Lennon^[54] and Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada obtained the role of Dogen (道厳, dōgen);^{[55][56][57][58]} both men are Others stationed at the temple.^[59][60] Also, William Atherton was cast in a guest role as the principal of the school where Ben works.^[61] Sheila Kelley has been cast in a recurring role that was initially described as "Kendall" and later confirmed to be "Zoe".^[62][63][64] Kelley will appear in at least four episodes, starting with "Recon".^[65]

Episodes

The season premiered on February 2, 2010, with a two-hour episode preceded by a one-hour clip show, entitled "Lost: Final Chapter".^[3][66] The show will continue from February 9 at its new timeslot of Tuesdays at 9 pm with a total of 18 episodes airing in 16 broadcasts, ending with a three-hour, two-part series finale, the latter part of which will air Sunday, May 23, 2010.^[2][67] Additionally, the first hour of the premiere episode was screened to an estimated 15,000 fans on Waikiki Beach on January 30.^[68] In the following table, "Series #" refers to the episode's number in the overall series, whereas "Season #" refers to the episode's number in this particular season. "U.S. viewers in millions" refers to the number of Americans in millions who watched the episodes live or recorded them and watched them within seven days of broadcast.

References