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the series’ ultimate expert
Meet the series’ ultimate expert, whose take on the returns, revelations and rescues in Season 4 will change the way you look at ‘Lost’
Consider yourself a “Lost” junkie?
Well, your stack of occasionally trotted out DVDs can’t match up to what writer Nikki Stafford went through while preparing to write the invaluable guidebooks Finding Lost and Finding Lost: Season 3.
“I’ll watch an episode when it first airs, and then when I’m working on the book I’ll watch them all a couple of times—the entire season—without taking notes,” explains Stafford. “Then I’ll watch the entire episode with a laptop taking constant, constant notes. Then I watch them again, write up the episodes and then watch them a couple more times to make sure that I’ve caught everything and look for bloopers.
“And I’m still not sick of it, shockingly.”
Luckily, Stafford had time to break away from her TiVo and weigh in on the biggest mysteries and revelations expected to appear when ABC’s most addictive supernatural drama returns in February for its fourth season. And like “Lost” itself, the expert’s insight provides plenty of insights and clues to the show’s deepest secrets.
Will the castaways be rescued?
With the surprise flash-forward aspect of the Season 3 finale revealing an unbalanced Jack struggling to cope with life after a rescue, could the offshore ship actually save the castaways? “I’m assuming [there’s no rescue] because I’m not sure exactly where the show could go from there,” jokes the writer. However, with the revelation that the boat isn’t a rescue vessel sent by Desmond’s girlfriend, the question for Season 4 will be “Who are these people and why are they coming?”
Who are the original inhabitants of the island?
Some of most enduring mysteries of the show—from the four-toed statue to the original skeletons discovered in the caves—all point to one big question. “That’s pointing to some older civilization that’s been on the island, and whether or not it’s the Others, who never seem to get any older. They showed Dr. Richard Alpert (played by Nestor Carbonell) and he looks as young in the past as he does now; something’s got to be said about that.” After Season 3’s focus on the Dharma Project, it’s about time for the older islanders to step into the light.
Who or what is Jacob?
In perhaps the most surreal moment in the series to date, Locke and Others leader Ben confronted the ghost-like Jacob—the spiritual prophet of the Others. “They set him up as almost god-like in the sense that you have to have faith in Jacob,” explains Stafford, expecting his role and his connection to the supernatural to expand in Season 4. “Jacob clearly seems to be tied up with the smoke monster.”
Who does Kate choose in the future?
One of the biggest shocks of the mind-bending flash-forward sequence was the reveal that Kate and Jack don’t end up together. “They want you to think it’s Sawyer that she’s living with,” says Stafford, citing “the fact that she says, ‘I have to get back to him,’ and Jack kind of balks in the face.” So expect Season 4 to rely heavily on the flash-forward sequences to get fans as interested in the future as they are in the past of the characters.
What’s up with Desmond’s abilities?
After flashing a precognitive ability that predicted Charlie’s death, Desmond stepped straight out of the island’s reality and into the past where a mysterious woman castigated him for challenging fate. “The Desmond episode is so interesting because of that constant fight of free will versus fate,” explains Stafford. The question for Season 4 will be whether Desmond uses his precog ability to save lives or if he’s able to time jump again and fight his fate in a whole new way.
Who’s in the coffin?
The Internet caught fire at the end of last season wondering whose funeral Jack attended, and Stafford’s pieced together all the clues to point to a certain returning castaway. “I’m thinking Michael. The newspaper article that Jack’s reading clearly says he’s in New York, and Michael’s the only one that’s from New York,” says Stafford of Harold Perrineau’s character. “The reason Kate’s saying ‘Why would I go to his funeral?’ is because she’s still thinking about how he completely sold all of them out to the Others [in Season 2].”
If Michael returns, where’s Walt?
“Lost” producers have promised Michael’s full-time return in Season 4, but his telepathically empowered son Walt might be tougher to pull off. After a brief fever-dream cameo at the end of Season 3, it’s apparent that young actor Malcolm David Kelley can’t exactly pull off being a 12-year-old anymore. “[The newspaper obit] also says he has a teenage son,” says Stafford. “In that case, they can get away with it in that Walt only appears in flash forwards as the teenager. This is a story that really needs to be told. They left a lot of things open with Walt. They’re not ready to just let it go.”
With Charlie dead, who will protect Claire?
With Charlie sacrificing himself to open the lines of communication last year, a major plot point for Season 4 will be what becomes of frequent Others targets Claire and baby Aaron. “We’re going to have to move toward a Jack and Claire thing because there’s nothing left for her,” Stafford speculates of the duo who unknowingly share the same father.
Will Locke stay behind?
Whenever the eventual rescue of the Oceanic 815 crowd comes, Stafford explains that former paraplegic John Locke may not want to leave the island that healed him.
“He just doesn’t seem to want to go. Rose is another one who’s suggested that her cancer might come back if she leaves the island, so she and Bernard want to stay as well.” Either way, expect Locke’s connection to the Others to strengthen now that he’s seen their mysterious leader Jacob. “Locke seems to have this new affinity with the Others. [They] see him as the Messiah they all thought Ben might be.”
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