How is the show shaping up this season?

It’s exciting. We only have sixteen episodes this year, so there’s no time for heel-dragging. We often get criticism for starting slowly, but straight out of the gate, season four is intense, and extremely dark and sinister. It’s definitely the scariest of any of the seasons to date. It’s also the best, in my opinion.

The fact that we now know exactly when we’re finishing is such a massive help. We’ve literally outlined three seasons worth of material over the last two months – some of which right down to the exact episode it will appear. That’s something that otherwise would be impossible in normal circumstances. We have abc to thank for that, and the hard work of Damon [lindelof] and Carlton [Cuse]. And the fans as well, of course.

Do you think the move will bring viewers back – knowing that you now have an end date in place? And do you think the current-crop of viewers will be more patient with you guys?

Do I think it’ll bring viewers back? Well I hope so, obviously. Not so much because of ratings; just because it’s great having your writing reach as many people as possible.

As for the current-crop of viewers, I think the great thing about LOST is that, unlike most other shows, maybe 75% of our viewers aren’t just viewers – they’re real fans of the show. And maybe 50% of those 75% are the absolute hard-core of our fanbase, which is a far greater percentage than pretty much any other show I can name.

Those same fans have been very loyal in the past when we haven’t produced our best form – during the majority of season two, and the early part of season three especially. So I’d expect that they’ll be more than tolerant towards the material we have coming up next season.

Last year's finale introduced the concept of flash-forwards to the show. How are you guys integrating them in season four? And how have they affected your storytelling?

Well, at the end of every year we try to change the status quo significantly to prevent the whole thing from going stale. We figured, probably half-way through season two, that the flashbacks on the show were becoming redundant. So we sat down and tried to figure out how and when we could go in the other direction – to the future. We had the freighter/rescue plot planned out from the end of season two, and it really all just connected together perfectly.

Next year, we’ll have a mix of flashbacks and flash-forwards. The intention is to surprise our viewers not only through whose episode it is, but also when it is set. It’s a really neat way to add another layer of mystery and involvement to show. And after the first nine episodes of the season, I think it’s working brilliantly.

I notice that the first episode is called “The Beginning of the End.” Now there’s a nice, ominous title for you. And talking of ominous, what can you tell us about the people who are coming in the boat?

Oh, they’re ominous alright.

Myself, Damon and Carlton sat in the main office at Walt Disney Studios last year shortly after the premiere of season three had been outlined. We realized back then that the focus on The Others was going to take away some of their antagonistic value. I mean, Ben is a scary guy, but once you’ve seen him as a baby and then as geeky kid he loses some of that menace.

Add to that the fact that people were basically mocking the Cerberus device [referencing the smoke monster, presumably] because of its apparent non-solidity, and we figured that we were probably gonna be struggling to create a sense of fear on the show come the end of the season.

So, we had Cerberus kill Eko, which made people think, “hold on a minute – this thing means business.” Without that death, the scene in Left Behind where the device attacks Kate and Juliet wouldn’t have been particularly effective. Nor would one of the scenes you will see mid-way through season four.

So with that, we brought back some of the device’s menace. But we still had the problem of the disintegrating human conflict. Hence the conception of the freighter-folk.

I’m not telling you who they are, or what they want. But these guys mean business, and with their arrival, the survival of the island itself is at stake.

So they’re on the warpath?

Hell yeah.

Does that mean more deaths?

Absolutely. Again, they’re not messing about.

Can I request that you don’t kill Juliet? Because, seriously, how good is Elizabeth Mitchell?

She is awesome, but she is just one of the many great actors on the show. But in a character sense, Juliet was probably one of the most successful female character introductions on an established genre show that I can remember in a while.

I would be very shocked if we killed her. But hey, you never know...

At Comic-con, Damon and Carlton showed a video featuring a new station - The Orchid - which appeared to show a rabbit being duplicated, in some way, shape or form. I'm not going to ask you to go into detail, since I know you won't, but I would like to ask you whether or not we can take it as genuine material that connects to the show's mythology?

Of course. The Orchid is an extremely important element in the show's overarching plot. That video will feature in season four, and the questions that the station itself will raise will be absolutely monumental to the overall picture of the show.

One last question since we’re out of time… Going back to the end of season three, obviously the main discussion point over the summer has been the big shock ending. Is there anything that we're not discussing as much as we should be?

The whole thing with Naomi, and her telling Hurley that 815 had been found on the bottom of an Ocean-bed somewhere hasn't had as much attention as it probably deserves, especially when tied in with some of the things Jack said to Kate at L.A.X... And also the fact that she has a photo of Desmond. I mean, why Desmond? How did she get her British mitts on Penny's photo even though Penny has no idea who she is? And whatever happened to those guys that we saw in the artic-station at the end of season two? How do they tie in with the end of season three?

And what exactly do we mean when we say "The Survival of the Island is at Stake?"

As Jorge says, the end of episode 7 will absolutely blow you away. Completely. It is an absolutely gobsmacking, speech-depleting moment. Up there with anything the show has produced in its first three years.

The first eight episodes are better than the last eight episodes of season three by a long, long way. And that is really saying something.