Will We Like How “Lost” Ends?

As the sixth season of “Lost” gets ready to debut, producers Damon Lindelof and Carleton Cuse say they’ve been looking back on the finales of other high-profile shows with a long-term story arc for inspiration and guidance.  Among them are the endings of “Battlestar Galactica,” “The Shield” and “The Sopranos.”

Each of those shows have radically differing views on their ending, say the producers among critics and fans.

“It really boils down to: Is it satisfying? Have you given the audience an emotional ride that makes them feel that they’re satisfied, that it’s a good meal?” Lindelof tells the Hollywood Reporter. “Every one of those shows had a different criteria. The ending for “The Shield” was, asking whether Vic Mackey would get some form of comeuppance for all the things he’s done over the series. That’s a similar question that went into the “Sopranos” ending, which is why people who didn’t like the cut to black were unsatisfied, because they felt, “I feel the resolution of this show has to be what happens to Tony Soprano, and you didn’t answer that question.” The “Battlestar” ending had 10 different things on its agenda other than character resolution … you have to admire it for the sheer audacity for what it was trying to accomplish.”

“That being said, the “Shield” ending was phenomenal, and almost every fan of the show agrees with that,” he continued. “Whereas the other shows — and probably with the ending of “Lost” — there’s some debate about the ending. “Did I like it? Did I love it?”"

But whether we love or hate the ending, Lindelof and Cuse say that that probably won’t be the last we see of the series.

“The Walt Disney Co. owns “Lost.” It’s a franchise that’s conservatively worth billions of dollars. It’s hard to imagine “Lost” will rest on the shelves and nothing will ever be made with “Lost,” Cuse says. “Eventually somebody will make something under the moniker of “Lost” — whether we do it or not. We just made a commitment to this group of characters whose stories are coming to a conclusion this May.”

“Somebody made a sequel to “Gone With the Wind.” Sometimes the franchise transcends the storyteller,” added Lindelof. “The definitive edition of “Lost” ends this May on ABC, and that is the story that we have to tell. It has a beginning, middle and end. That ending will not have cliffhangers, or be set up in such a way that people will be saying, “Clearly they’re going to make more of these.” We don’t have any connection to another TV series or movie, but there’s a new “A-Team” movie coming out, for god’s sake. This is a business that thrives on known commodities. “Tron” is the most buzzed-about Disney movie for next year, and it has been gathering dust for 20 years. I cannot imagine there will not be something with “Lost” on it involving smoke monsters and polar bears and time travel.”

So does this mean we’ll love or hate the finale of “Lost”? We’ll get to see when the final season begins later this year.