The Lost producers have already sounded the alarm and are going to attempt to whip up five more episodes--for a total of 13--this season.
"We're going to try to make as many as we can and do a good job of finishing out this season," Cuse told Variety. "We'll have to compress some of the storytelling we planned for this season, and that may not be a bad thing. Damon and I feel like we know how we can finish it off and still make it a really, really great story."
Cuse also said that storylines originally planned for this season that they may not get to would be picked up on later in the fifth or sixth seasons.
Thirteen episodes may be less than what Lost fans were hoping for this year, but given the circumstances, the show seems to be in good shape. Now, someone please explain what a polar bear skeleton was doing in Tunisia!
New details on the back-half of season four of Lost have surfaced in an interview of Cuse by TVGuide.com's Michael Ausiello. Cuse says that the five post-strike episodes--should they be completed--won't air immediately after the initial run of eight episodes, but will likely air after a four-week break.
As for the three episodes ordered for this season that could be lost to the strike, Cuse says he will make sure they are "made up" in some capacity, likely added to either season five or six.
However, it's clear that there is still plenty of work to be done to get the rest of the season up to the quality that fans and Cuse expect from Lost.
"There are a lot of issues that have to get sorted out," Cuse told TVGuide. "We're also in the middle of pilot season.... We're kind of figuring out what has happened to all of our actors who have gone on to do other things. Literally, there are cobwebs on the couches in the writers' room."