'Lost' Revival: ABC Is Not Planning To Go Back To The Island – For Now

ABC is not going to heed any demands that "we have to go back!" At least, not for the time being.

Rumors of a Lost revival had been milling about since former co-showrunner Carlton Cuse — who executive produced and ran the groundbreaking sci-fi series alongside Damon Lindelof — signed a huge four-year deal with ABC in summer of 2017. But it turns out these rumors are nothing more than a black smoke monster in the wind, with ABC stating that it has no plans to return to the Island.

ABC President Channing Dungey told TV Line that she has no current plans to revive Lost, which ended its six-season run in May 2010. She said:

"We have not had any official discussions about that. It's something that's on a list of, 'Wouldn't that be great if... ,' but at this point it's only at that place."

Since there are no official discussions, there is no official confirmation on whether this would be a remake of the series, or if it would pick up where it left off (which would be incredibly difficult considering the finality of the ending). Or — and I'm going to read into Dungey's emphasis on "if" — could she and other ABC executives try to rewrite history and create a less polarizing ending for Lost? As someone who vehemently defended the Lost ending and its wonderfully infuriating final season, I would hope not.

Eight years is a short amount of time to already be talking about a revival to be sure, but hey, it happened with Arrested Development. But this a primetime network, the kind of place where we only seen nostalgia-fuled revivals of series like The X-Files. It's less likely to happen for a series that made waves for its nuanced character building and audacious sci-fi storytelling, only to aggressively frustrate many of its loyal fans with its ending.

This is all just feverish speculation of course...though it reminds me of the good old days as a Lost fan who spent hours reading about theories surrounding the next trivial piece of set dressing. You have to hand it to the Lost fans – they can cook up an entire theory about a series revival out of Cuse signing an exclusive deal with ABC that would allow him to develop new projects for broadcast, cable and streaming, on his own or in collaboration with other writers.

But maybe they're on to something. Cuse himself did recently tell TV Line that he was "curious" and "excited" about the possibility of a new writer creating "their version of Lost" using "the mythology of the island." He said:

"It would be really exciting if there's another incarnation of Lost, I just won't have any association with it. Not because I'm too good for it. I just feel like, again, we worked so hard to end our story, that to come back and say, 'Well, that wasn't the real ending,' would be frustrating."

So basically, Cuse hopes someone revisits the concept of Lost again, but maybe not in his lifetime. (And don't try to suggest that it could happen in an alternate lifetime.) At least all the Lost fans who fed into this rumor about a revival can go back to the Island on Hulu.