And Yet Another Damon Lindelof/Carlton Cuse Interview!!

This is an extremely long interview with Damon Lindelof, posted in Spanish at Televisionairum and translated on The Fuselage. I’ve cut bits out here… but feel free to read it all at the forum! There’s info here on the flashforwards, Charlie, the love triangle, and more.

After three seasons of flashbacks was it inevitable you’d employ flashforwards because there were less ideas for flashbacks? Will we see predominantly flashforwards or will they be compensated with flashbacks?
DL : Absolutely inevitable . . . not so much as to abandon flashbacks, but at least to find a paradigm for the narration which will develop the nature of the series. With the flashforwards you get a mixture, each week we hope it’ll be a guessing game of not only WHO the episode is centred on, but WHEN the action is taking place.

Do you work with Physicists to make the Time Travel theories plausible? Apart from the writers, who contributes to the Lost scripts?
DL : Unfortunately, the Physicists are too busy with their Physics to help us with our script problems. Most of the time the ideas we use in the series are thoroughly investigated (cough cough WikiPedia cough cough) to give them a sense of authenticity. And speaking of Time Travel, you’ll like the new Dharma Orientation film on the Orchid Station which appears on the DVD.

Can you say anything about the Wizard of Oz references that appear on the show?
DL : The Wizard of Oz (and obviously Alice in Wonderland) are recurring themes in Lost. Both are about real people who appear in fantastical worlds . . . and about desperately trying to get back home. We introduced those references (Henry Gale, White Rabbits, Hot Air Balloons) as a homage to those stories which have had so much influence on our narrative.

The third season distanced Kate and Jack. But the final episode shows their relationship is as strong as ever. Was this deliberate? Why do you want the fans to think they have no chance together?
CC : The Jack / Kate / Sawyer triangle is something that will continue for a long time. And who says they have no chance?

After Charlie didn’t die from the explosion, why didn’t he swim to the surface rather than drown?
DL : Two reasons. The first, once he closed the door (to save Desmond) the porthole that Mikhail blew open was too small for him to pass through. The second reason, because he knew, whatever happened, he was going to die . . . so why worry?

Since you revealed the secret of the Island is related to Time Travel a lot of unanswered questions seem to have an acceptable explanation. Why did you decide to reveal this?
CC : When ABC / Disney allowed us to end the show with 48 more episodes it was the time to start a new way of telling the story, which includes flashforwards. The show is like a mosaic. There are pieces in the present, in the past, and now also in the future. When all the pieces are in place, Lost has finished.

The third season has shown the death of a lot of main characters. Was it your intention from the beginning of the season to have such a bloodbath?
CC : This year was about the Others. The end of the season forced us to resolve the story of the Others. We promised a confrontation. That confrontation had profound consequences for both sides.

Why did you choose Hawaii to film Lost?
CC : The surroundings on the show were as important as any character. After going over a lot of options Hawaii seemed the best possible choice. It’s a beautiful place and not too far away allowing us to do the logistics required to make the show.

Does the Island have a name? Will we find it out?
DL : The name of the Island is Herbert Jablonski.

4 8 15 16 23 42. Will we ever know the what those numbers mean?
CC : We can explain the meaning of 16 and 23. We disagree about explaining 4, 8 and 42.

Is there any explanation for the choice of the names Locke, Rousseau and Hume for some of the characters?
DL : Yes, They’re all in Carlton’s bowling team. Oh . . . and famous philosophers, whose works we’ve taken the liberty of appropriating and incorporating into the show.

Will you use a lot of flashforwards this season or does that give too much information on who will survive?
CC : The flashforwards will be a component of season 4. But it’s not true that the flashforward you saw was the end of the show.

How many days have the survivors been on the Island? If you follow that rhythm of days in the next three seasons the pregnant Sun won’t die before the show finishes. Well, at least not as a cause of the pregnancy illness on the Island. Is this right?
DL : At the end of the third season the survivors have been on the Island for less than a hundred days. Yes, your theory about Sun is correct . . . but don’t forget that we can jump into the future in the next season, so anything can happen.

So you know how the show is going to end, and does it fit into what you had planned from the beginning (at least the concept)?
DL : We always knew the ending, we didn’t know how long it would take us to get there. So, yes, it still fits completely with the point in the story in which we find ourselves right now. With 48 episodes ahead, it’s exciting to be working towards an ending with which we are already familiar.

Do you know what actor will play the mysterious Jacob? And has there been any episode in which he appeared before his meeting with Locke?
CC : Yes, we know how Jacob will be represented. Notice the careful use of words in my answer. No, Jacob didn’t appear before his meeting with Locke.

What character death was most difficult for you to take this season?
DL : It was incredibly difficult to say goodbye to Charlie. We thought that the season had to end with the loss of one of the main characters and we started to prepare it from the beginning of the season. It was very difficult to write Charlie’s sacrifice . . . and Dom’s performance also made it very hard when it came to watching it. That death will echo into the start of the fourth season.

Now the third season has given answers (and posed) so many questions, what can we expect from the fourth season?
DL: Giving answers and posing a lot of questions. Seriously, the fourth season is going to be a new show in a lot of senses. We are really excited about what we are doing and we hope it will give you as many surprises as the end of last season did.