I really hope this is not another LIBBY. LOST is so epic in scope and you just don't know which character is going to emerge as one the fans really glom onto. Like Libby in the psyche ward, Richards appearance in Ben's flashback, was held with equal weight. What I don't understand is why they don't keep these actors around via contract or something. I know it's a bit far fetched to keep an actor on roster when they are not a part of the regualr cast, but you'd think that either TPTB are figuring this in or simply would not have revealed something about a character that would never get answered. Really we don't NEED to know why Libby was in the hospital, nor do we NEED to know why Richard hasn't aged and who he is really, but I think these are more compelling than some of the other mysteries.

Good for him! Imagine the utter chaos he would have created if he had answered either way!!!!

Doc,

Good to hear from you brother. This is all moot because that terrible show will be canceled after a few episodes. Seriously, a show about sugarcane? Do they do battle with Corn Syrup manufacturers? They should have done one about a few guys from Vermont with an emerging maple syrup conglomerate, instead. And for a guy with latin in his blood, Nestor sure does a terrible Cuban accent. I sure hope this isn't his idea of a contract negotiation.

Have TPTB ever explicitly stated that Richard is not aging?

To make Locke look younger, they used a lot of makeup and gave him hair. To make Ben look younger, for the scenes during the Pirge, they again used a lot of makeup.

During the flashback with young Ben in the forest, I think there is certainly a clear, concerted effort to make Richard look younger: the long carefree hair, the manly chest hair, the dark 5'oclock shadow.

Is there a chance that the character does, in fact, age - but the producers have not done the best job represinting this to us visually?

I'm really hoping that Carbonell will be able to do both! If there's any silver lining, the way the finale put the two Other series regular characters (Juliet and Ben) with the Beach Campers made me think that we wouldn't see most of the other Others until later in the season. I don't know though, how long does it usually take for guest actors to be snagged by PTB so that they can appear later in the season?

"You do remember birthdays, don't you Richard?"

Right now I'm convinced he ages differently.

But if he never returns to the show that would just be awful in my opinion.

Richard appearing to a young Ben was one of THE highlights of LOST.

Perhaps with the LOST spoiler crackdown, he may not be ALLOWED to confirm that he will be reprising his roll. Just a theory.

Noooooo. This is just the worst season-hasn't-started-yet news I could have heard.

I had so many hopes and dreams of Richard Alpert... Who is he, what is he, where is he from, what is he doing, why does he wear mascara.... So many questions...

In fact, I could think of a small handful of lead characters that could disappear into the ether and be easily replaced by Richard Alpert's story.

Oh, hell.

TOM: TPTB have not stated anything regarding the age of Richard, however his scene where he looks like he hasn't aged was meant to be questioned by fans. Could you imagine if they actually said for sure if he was. That's not how LOST rolls. If they wanted him to look younger they would have. It was done on purpose to create a WTF amongst the fans. I'll bet a dollar on this. :) They obviously don't have to go there to explain him. They can simply smack on "time is messed up on the island" theory (which already almost exists) and be done with it.

If I was a LOST producer, I would've signed this guy up. Exactly what downthehatch said, don't get how they let these actors go.

Re: Libby. They've stated many times that she'll back, she's crucial to a couple of the plot strands (mainly, meeting Des and giving him the boat: set up or Fate?).

They simply can't bind these actors to 2 scenes every 9 episodes or whatever; the actors would have to turn down work and TPTB aren't going to make them do that. It's simply the price they pay for hiring the very best character actors; they could get lesser people, but they don't want to.

They've had it happen with L. Scott Caldwell (Rose) and the awesome April Grace (Miss Klugh); they loved them, but they had better gigs and TPTB didn't want to stop them from grabbing those chances. They wrote around them.

As for Nestor, he's obviously crucial in one aspect: he's taking the rest of The Others to The Temple. I sense they can delay that subplot. I, for one, hope Cane is a huge hit because Nestor's a terrific actor who deserves the same kind of break (and the $$$ that comes with it!) that Michael Emerson got with playing Ben.

Wait, he said he doesn´t know.....but he was on a CBS show press tour. These new shows usually shoot like six episodes, wait to see audience reactions and then get the green or red light for the network to develop more. This means Nestor will have a lot of free time. This also means he can go to Hawaii to shoot some episodes any time of the year. I wouldn´t count him out until we actually get to see what the hell season four is next february.

The only thing we can do right now is get the entire Lost community to boycott CANE and not watch it......so that it can be cancelled in time for Nestor to return to lost.