'Lost' Creators Discuss Beginning of the End

Web Exclusive: Hit show's executive producers dish on plot, finale and fans.

ByABC News
February 1, 2010, 10:45 AM

Feb. 2, 2010— -- Few creators of hit television programs are afforded the luxury that has been granted to the team behind ABC's "Lost." For years, fans have known that the sixth season would be the final installment of "Lost." This unusual path to an ending is not because of falling ratings or fleeing talent but rather comes at a time and in a manner chosen by the show's makers.

On the eve of their final season premiere, "Lost" Executive Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse sat down with ABC News' "Nightline" to discuss how Harry Potter inspired their demand to be canceled, why they aim to "cause agony" for their obsessed viewers and how it's all going to end.

ABC NEWS: What has it been like to take the show all the way to its completion?

Carlton Cuse: When we started making "Lost" we had no idea that the journey would be like this, that it would end up being six years and 120 episodes . I mean, the beauty of the show was, we thought we were going to make 12 episodes and be done with it. So, we said, "Well, if we are going to go down in flames, let's really go down in spectacular flames." So we broke a lot of conventional rules of television storytelling and lo and behold, that turned out to be the exact thing that the audience embraced.

ABC NEWS: You did something that sounds counter-intuitive. You demanded a lot from your audience.

Damon Lindelof: If you assume that the audience is made up of idiots, then you are going to write the show for idiots. But if you assume that the audience is incredibly intelligent and savvy and sort of wants a much more complex and rich puzzle, then write the show for those people and see what happens. Anybody can ski the bunny slope, but we wanted to see how many people were willing to ski the black diamond.

ABC NEWS: How hard of a sell was it to make this show really hard for people to follow?

Cuse: I remember actually...it was between season one and season two and we were going to be pitching to all the network executives what was in the hatch. I remember telling Damon that we are about to tell those guys that there's a guy in this hatch and he is pushing a button every 108 minutes and if he doesn't push that button, the world might end. Damon was like "That's right." And we were like this is, this is...

Lindelof: We are getting fired! We are going to get fired, right. Maybe we can get jobs on another show...We pitched it and everybody was like "Wow, that's cool." And it just sort of seemed like the crazier the plot turns in the show, the more the network actually embraced it and it's kind of counter intuitive to what you hear about normal network television situations. I think our show is an anomaly in that regard.

ABC NEWS: You are blessed and cursed because after every episode the fans are rabid and active online and dissecting everything. Were you expecting that kind of response?

Lindelof: No, I mean never.

Cuse: "Lost" is like running a sports team. I mean, I feel like actually the owner of the Dodgers...because people are incredibly proprietary about "Lost." In the same way that you are a fan of a sports team, you can take issue with management's decision whether to keep players, fire a coach or do this or that. I mean, there are often times where Damon and I will have an idea about the show and the fans will actually come back to us and say, "No that isn't actually our interpretation." They feel more of a sense of proprietorship than we do.

ABC NEWS: They will give you a hard time and let you know if they don't like what you are doing, right?

Lindelof: Yes, absolutely. You know, people have a very intense bond with the show. We have spent the last six years of our lives basically writing it, and investing our blood, sweat and tears into making it. But there are people out there who have invested more time on "Lost" than we have. They have watched every episode nine, ten, eleven times...we have to share the show with them.

ABC NEWS: You guys get your revenge too. You are merciless with your cliffhangers.

Cuse: The cliffhanger is a huge part of "Lost" and it's something that we work really hard at... if we really can cause you an incredible amount of agony when an episode of "Lost" is over, we feel like we have done our job.

ABC NEWS: You were looking to finish the story, and there was a point after your initial success where you didn't know when you were going to end the show. What was that like?

Cuse: Once "Lost" was up and rolling...we didn't know if it had two seasons or nine seasons so consequently we felt really hamstrung. At the beginning of the third season of the show, we had our characters locked in cages, and I think looking back on it now, that's metaphorically how we felt. We felt like we were locked in cages, because we didn't know how long we had for the mythology to play out. So, we went to the network on the third season of the show and we were like "Please let us negotiate an end date. Let us end the show on our terms because otherwise the show is just going to die." We sort of took our model from J.K. Rowling who had announced that were going to be seven Harry Potter books and that was incredibly satisfying for her audience to know...and kind of a light bulb went off for us and we said, that's what we really need to do for "Lost."