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The sixth and final season of the American serial drama television series Lost will commence airing in the United States and Canada in late January or early February 2010 and conclude in late May 2010. The season continues the stories of the survivors of the fictional September 22, 2004 crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 on a mysterious island in the South Pacific.

Production
On May 7, 2007, ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson announced that Lost will end during the 2009–2010 season with a "highly anticipated and shocking finale." "We felt that this was the only way to give Lost a proper creative conclusion," McPherson said. Beginning with the 2007–2008 television season, the final 48 episodes would have been aired as three seasons with 16 episodes each, with Lost concluding in its sixth season. Due to the writers' strike, the fourth season featured 14 episodes, and Seasons 5 had 17 episodes. Season 6 was planned to have 17 episodes, too. However, on June 29 it was announced that the final season will feature an additional hour, making the number of episodes 18.

Executive producers Lindelof and Cuse stated that they "always envisioned Lost as a show with a beginning, middle, and end," and that by announcing when the show would end that viewers would "have the security of knowing that the story will play out as we've intended." Lindelof and Cuse stated that securing the 2010 series-end date "was immensely liberating" and helped the series rediscover its focus. Lindelof noted, "We're no longer stalling." The producers also plan to wrap up long-standing mysteries, such as the nature of the smoke monster, the four-toed statue of Taweret, and the identity of the skeletons from the season one episode "House of the Rising Sun". Matthew Fox stated in a recent interview that in the final season, the characters of Jack Shephard and John Locke "will come head to head." A third of the way through the final season, the two time lines will be "solidified into one" and "will be very linear – no more flashbacks, nothing." He has also claimed to be the only cast member who knows the ending of the series.

During Comic-Con 2009, numerous sixth season reports were made including the announcement of the return of Jeremy Davies, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Dominic Monaghan, as well as the inclusion of Nestor Carbonell as a main character. Other announcements include Carlton Cuse stating both the time travel and flash-forward seasons were over, and they're moving into something different for the sixth season. Josh Holloway stated his character Sawyer would revert back to his old self after the loss of Juliet.

Other former cast members said to be returning include Ian Somerhalder and Maggie Grace. While Deadwood actor John Hawkes was cast to portray a recurring character named "Lennon" and Japanese actor Hiroyuki Shimosawa obtained a "significant", but unnamed role.

Cast
The cast has yet to be officially announced. ABC has announced that twelve of the fourteen regular cast members from the fifth season will continue to star on the show, in addition to one new cast member and one who returns from the fourth season. The latter half of the previous season follows two storylines, as such the cast is roughly divided into two groups. The first storyline follows the group of people who have been stuck in the 1970s and detonated a hydrogen bomb on the island in an attempt to return to the present day: the survivors' leader Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), former fugitive Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), millionaire Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia), former torturer Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), con artist James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), medium Miles Straume (Ken Leung), former mob-enforcer Jin Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim), and fertility specialist Dr. Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell). Mitchell has been named a main cast member by ABC, despite starring in the lead role on the new ABC show V and Mitchell's statements that she will only be a recurring guest star in season six. The second storyline follows the group of people who are on the island in the present day of late 2007: Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim), who has returned to the island in search of her husband, Jin; Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), former leader of the island's native population, known as the Others; an unnamed character, who has impersonated John Locke (Terry O'Quinn); and Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), an ageless advisor to the Others. Carbonell was named a main cast member by the executive producers at Comic-Con 2009, after guest starring in the previous three seasons. Henry Ian Cusick also reprises his role as Desmond Hume, who is the only character to not be on the island in either storyline. Also returning is Emilie de Ravin, who was absent during the fifth season and placed on a holding contract so that she could reprise her role in the final season as Claire Littleton, a new mother who is last seen in a moving cabin with her deceased father.

Several former cast members are scheduled to return the show, or have been asked back. Dominic Monaghan is slated to return as deceased rock star Charlie Pace in three episodes. The producers have also confirmed that Jeremy Davies will return as deceased physicist Daniel Faraday in multiple episodes. Ian Somerhalder has also confirmed that he will return as deceased Flight 815 crash survivor Boone Carlyle. Maggie Grace, who portrays Shannon Rutherford, Boone's stepsister, has also hinted that she will be returning in season six. Recurring characters who are expected to return include: wealthy industrialist and former Other Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), Jack and Claire's father, Christian Shephard (John Terry), mysterious Flight 316 passenger Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson), and Vincent, a dog who survived the crash of Flight 815 and lives on the island.