“Lost” creator say series ends in three more seasons
By Damara Popoola
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 5/8/07 – For die hard “Lost” fans the will to keep watching is constantly tempered with frustration by an ever changing cast and seemingly inexplicable plot twists. Reassuringly, executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have announced an end date for the series – three more seasons and “Lost” will call it quits.
Fans had launched an internet campaign to keep ABC-TV’s “Lost” on the air after news in January that the network and producers were negotiating an end to the popular series. So the creator’s desire for logical closure was finally tempered by a little fan pressure and a lot of continuing ad revenues, and a deal was cut.
The announcement comes at the near end of a season that has finally answered a few questions for viewers, but still raised plenty more. Instead of its usual 24 episodes, the show will have 16 episodes for the next three seasons with all of them airing consecutively between February and May and culminating in what ABC calls a “highly anticipated and shocking finale.”
Ratings this season are averaging a respectable 14 million, but that’s down quite a bit from the 20 million viewers “Lost” pulled in at its peak. Still, Cuse and Lindelof claim a set series finale date was always in the works.
“We always envisioned “Lost” as a show with a beginning, middle and end,” the exec producers said in yesterday’s announcement. “By officially announcing exactly when that ending will be, the audience will now have the security of knowing that the story will play out as we’ve intended.”
Cuse and Lndelof earlier noted that “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling has said her series will have seven books and end then and there, “which gives everybody a sort of feeling of certainty that that story is driving toward a conclusion.” Without any kind of pressure from the network, the decision to end the show comes solely from producers’ team, Lindelof admitting that “the only pressure that we’ve ever received from them is “Answer some (expletive) questions!”
There are three more episodes of “Lost” remaining and this season’s finale airs May 23.