Season 4 May Have One Additional Episode

When the plan for Lost's final three years was initially announced, each season was supposed to have 16 episodes. However, the writers' strike soon came along and derailed this nice little idea. The Lost producers were only able to complete eight episodes before the strike, and after it wrapped up they announced that five additional installments would be produced. While the show's fourth season would be somewhat truncated, the writers would at least have enough time to tie up certain story threads.

It's a lucky day for fans who were bemoaning the shortened schedule, as TV Guide's Michael Ausiello has announced that one more episode may be added to the show's fourth season. If the deal is worked out, that would bring the episode total to 14 for this year.

According to Ausiello, this deal is not yet confirmed, so Lost fans shouldn't do a dance of joy just yet. If ABC does decide to produce an additional episode, it may run into some bothersome scheduling hurdles. Currently, the climax to Lost's fourth season is set to air on May 22 at 10pm, following the finales of Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy. If another installment were to be produced, it's unknown if it would air the following Thursday, on another night altogether, or if it'd possibly be packaged with episode 13 to make for a two-hour extravaganza.

There's also no telling what the new finale would consist of. Would it simply be an extension of episode 13? Would it contain elements that executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse weren't able to fit into the original finale? Would this additional hour be more along the lines of what the producers originally intended, or would they be stretching things out beyond what was planned after the writers' strike?

Like many Lost fans, I'll be crossing my fingers that this extra episode becomes a reality. Hopefully we'll have confirmation on this story within the next day or two.