'Lost' execs promise timeline resolution

Friday, April 23 2010, 11:02am EDT

By Catriona Wightman, Entertainment Reporter

The executive producers of Lost have promised viewers that the series finale will provide some resolution.

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse told Wired that the show will attempt to explain how the two storylines fit together.

"The audience is saying, 'I hope they explain the relationship between these two stories' and that, to us, is the only answer we owe," Lindelof said. "Because at this point, the characters are not aware that there's any timeline other than the one they are in. But if they were to become aware of the parallel worlds, what might they do about it? That becomes a fundamental question."

The pair also suggested that the programme will choose between science, represented by Jack (Matthew Fox), and faith, represented by Locke (Terry O'Quinn).

"The show can't have its cake and eat it too," Lindelof explained. "At the end of the day, if Locke and Jack were to sit down and say, 'Well, we were kind of both right', that would not be satisfying. It has to come down one way or another."

However, Cuse said: "There's still going to be plenty of room for debate when the show is over. We are going to take a stab at providing a conclusion, and one that we hope will be satisfying on a character level.

"The bigger questions, we realise, are not answerable. We feel that demystifying some of the things we do on Lost is like the magician showing you how the trick is done, and we don't want to do that."

He continued: "We don't know whether the resolution between the two timelines is going to make people say, 'Oh, that's cool' or, 'Oh, f**k those guys, they belly-flopped at the end'."

Meanwhile, Lindelof added: "This is our best version of the story of Lost, and it's the definitive one. The worst thing we could ever do is not end it, or go with some bulls**tty ending like a snowglobe or a cut to black. That was genius on The Sopranos but The Sopranos isn't a mystery show. For us, we owe our best version of a resolution here."

The finale of Lost will air on ABC on May 23.
http://www.digitalspy.com/cult/s10/lost/news/a216203/lost-execs-promise-timeline-resolution.html