Extra Hour / Shannon might return

On Lostpedia and Aintitcoolnews.com today there's a couple of Lost news items that have surfaced. First is that the producers of Lost have asked ABC for an additional hour next year. Which I find odd. How would they know in advance that they need another hour to tell their full story, even before they begin shooting? I've guess they've got it more planned out than I imagined. But cool, nonetheless.


Second is that rumor has it that Maggie Grace has been hinting she may return in some capacity during Season 6. (She played whiny Shannon in season 1.) I don't think anyone has been begging for her return, however if it's true it would fit into my theory that Season 6 will open just like Season 1. After the jughead bomb detonates, Jack and his friends wake up back on the beach after the 815 crash and start living Season 1 over again, however things are slightly different this time and they slowly start to realize that they're stuck in a time loop that's been repeating for a while now. That's still my best guess for what's going to happen in Season 6.


On a side note, the other day I was thinking about the Time Loop theory and remembered the ending to the Lost: Via Domus video game. SPOILER ALERT, if you're planning on playing the game, skip this paragraph. (Also, if you're planning to play the game, prepare for a lot of frustratingly aimless walking around in dark caves, struggling to light a torch then accidentally falling into a hole.) Anyway, that game was about a photographer named Elliot who crashed on the island along with the 815 Losties. Over the course of the game, through flashbacks you learn how he got to the island, and see how off the island he witnessed the murder of his journalist colleague/love interest Lisa by the Hanso Foundation. But the ending of the game is what's really interesting (unless you like bartering with a video game version of Michael for mangos). At the end of the game, Elliot is about to escape the island in a boat when there's a flash (like when the hatch exploded) and he wakes up on the beach right after the crash, just like at the beginning of the game... except this time his friend Lisa appears and says "Oh my God, we made it, we're alive." So, he's experienced a time loop, except something's different this time around – this time, his friend was actually on the plane and survived. The producers later said the game was not canon, but I think this could have been a retraction because they realized they gave away too much...


One final crazy theory... I saw someone posted a theory on Lostpedia that a cool opening for Season 6 would be to see Jacob waiting on the beach for The Black Rock ship to set anchor, but when they do, Jack and Kate and the other Losties get off the boat. I'm not sure how that would be explained, but it would be cool. I guess maybe they could have gotten flashed back to the 1800s or whatever. Just an interesting thought.

Not sure what other Lost news is on the horizon. ComicCon 2009 happens in late July, so it will be interesting to find out what hints the producers give us towards Season 6 then. Stay tuned...