The Tail Section

Damon Lindelof teased a few details about the final season of Lost:

- On what will be answered: “The questions that count will be answered, and the questions that fans don’t want answered won’t be answered, but I think what they’re looking for is a real sense of resolution, particularly on a character level. Who’s going to live? Who’s going to die? Who’s going to hook up with who? Why were they all brought here in the first place? Was it arbitrary? Is there meaning behind it?”

- On who’s returning to the show: “I do think it’s safe to say that that final season of the show in a lot of ways is a curtain call for all the actors who kind of made these iconic performances and we’re hoping that a lot of them come back for one final appearance.”

- On the possible explanation of what the smoke monster is: “If you do not see a dinosaur by the end of the season premiere of season six I think it will be safe to conclude that the monster is not a dinosaur. But that’s not to say that you won’t see one. I’m just saying you will know.”

Also, ABC has released a bigger version of the first official poster for season 6, and it reveals who the characters on top are. From left to right: Faraday, Boone, Miles, Ana Lucia, Charlotte, Lapidus, Shannon, Desmond, Mr. Eko, Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Locke’s back, Ben, Sayid, Libby, Sun, Jin, Claire, Hurley, Juliet, Charlie, Richard, Bernard, Rose, and that cute little dog, Vincent.

Shiela Kelley is joining the final season of Lost, EW’s Michael Ausiello reports. The former LA Law star joins in a recurring role as Kendall, an intelligent and sharp-witted beauty who commits corporate espionage and has to lie to get out of it.

Naveen Andrews is set to make a guest appearance on Law & Order: SVU. While details are being kept under wraps, TVGuide.com reports that he’ll shoot his episode, which is set to air in January 2010, next week.

But Lost is still shooting its last episodes at the moment, so the timing is pretty suspect - is Sayid done for the season? A rep clarifies that “not all cast members are in every episode,” and it’s possible that Sayid will be back for the latter part of season 6, but the possibility is still there.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Lost is looking for a female in her mid-30s to play Kendall, an “intellectual beauty with a sharp edge to her wit” who is caught engaged in corporate espionage and wiggles her way through it by lying. Possibly a recurring character, they say. Ideas?

The sexual harassment suit filed against Lost star Henry Ian Cusick has been settled, reports say. The actor was accused of groping and making suggestive actions to former production staffer Chelsea Stone back in 2007. She was fired 12 days after she filed a complaint, and was seeking unspecified damages.

Authorities say both parties have reached a settlement early this month, although details were kept confidential, and nobody from the Lost crew would give comment.

Lost’s final season won’t air uninterrupted as hoped: it’s been confirmed that the show will take a break in February, when the Winter Olympics are underway. Nonetheless, according to showrunner Carlton Cuse, the show will still return in January.

TV Guide Magazine confirms that Maggie Grace is returning to Lost’s final season. She is set to shoot her scenes in November. It took a while for the actress to clear her schedule for a possible return, as she was working on three films. Her scenes are expected to be cut into those of her on-screen brother Ian Somerhalder, who shot his scenes earlier.

Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello revealed that Emilie de Ravin will feature throughout the entirety of Lost’s final season. But we should expect to see a Claire that’s very much like Rousseau. Apparently, Mira Furlan’s not joining the final season because of a prior commitment.

If you’re looking for more season 6 details, then look no further - because there won’t be anything in store. E! Online’s Kristin Dos Santos reports that the producers have convinced ABC not to release any photos or videos from the first few episodes of Lost’s final season, and for good reason: the twists are apparently so min-0blowing, they’d rather keep the lid on it until next year. So we can only expect to know who’s returning, but not why, and not how. At least not the absolute specifics.

One of the best things about Lost, according to Henry Ian Cusick, is that he gets to live in Hawaii. “My children are in school and to pull them out now would be tricky,” he told TV Guide Magazine. “We really love life here.”

But it seems he’s got no idea about the fate of both Desmond and Penny, since Sonya Walger’s now doing Flash Forward. “Are we going to see less of him than last season? I hope not,” he said, “because we didn’t see much of him and there are a lot of things I’d like to know about him. I think Desmond’s character has become more of a peripheral character. I think now we are zooming to the end and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered.”