Demise is Greatly Exaggerated

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, executive producers of ABC's Lost, told reporters that fans of one of the show's characters can rest assured that he's not completely gone. (Spoilers ahead!)

The character of Jin-Soo Kwon, played by Daniel Dae Kim, was thought to be dead at the end of the fourth season. But when asked about Jin's fate at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., last week, the producers said viewers would be seeing more of one of the few Korean characters on TV. "There will be more of Daniel Dae Kim in the series in some form," Cuse said. Lindelof added, "In human form." The producers said that they were aware that Lost afforded them the chance to depict many cultures. "The reality is when we first cast the show, we had an opportunity--because the show wasn't set in the States and because it featured people who were basically on a plane--[that] anybody could be on a plane, [and] it opened the door for not just ethnically diverse casting, but [also for] people from all over the world," Lindelof said. "But, at the same time, the show ... has to be an equal-opportunity murderer." Lindelof and Cuse added that they are ready to wrap up the series. "We are very grateful to [ABC Entertainment president] Steve [McPherson] and [ABC Studios president] Mark Pedowitz for basically working out an end date [2010] with us for the show," Lindelof said. "That made all the difference in the world." The upcoming fifth season will be tough for the show, whose audience has been dwindling. "This obviously is a tricky year for us," Cuse said. "I mean, it's like The Two Towers [the second volume in the Lord of the Rings trilogy]. I mean, this is the year that links us from the past to the final season. And the final season: We're very excited about it, and we have known a lot of what we wanted to do there for a long time. So, really, the challenge for us and what we're working on right now is how do we make this season engaging and exciting about the final season of Lost? We just feel fortunate that we know exactly how much time we have." Lindelof said that the worst thing is to be boring. "We've always said, 'If we're going to be bad, we're going to be spectacularly bad,' and it's a show that takes risks," he said. "It's very exciting for us to be 86 hours into the show," Lindelof added. "We were just all standing backstage ... going, 'We're going into season five, and the fact that people are still asking us what is the show going to be next year, you know, how are you guys going to tell stories?' is enormously cool." Lost returns in early 2009. --Mike Szymanski


Source: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?id=57911