Season four of Lost won’t be with us until some time in the New Year, and fed up with hearing which cast member has most recently been popped for drunk driving (Daniel Dae Kim) us fans of the enigmatic island drama are hungry for news about the show itself. And so, to help oblige those of us desperate for their Lost fix, here are a few tasty tidbits (spoiler haters: look away now) as executive producer Carlton Cuse has been revealing what’s in store for the survivors of Oceanic flight 815.

Remember the season three reveal that Jack and Kate make it off the island? Well, we’re in for plenty more flash forwards. "Moving forwards, you'll get a mix," explains Cuse. "Every week will hopefully be a guessing game as to not just who will be focused on, but when we're focusing on them." And though he met his maker, Charlie’s importance is not diminished: "Desmond will have to deal with the after-effects and the guilt of [Charlie's death]," elaborates co-exec producer Damon Lindelof. "He will question whether or not Charlie would have made this sacrifice, had he not told him that was what he was going to do. He will question the role he played in Charlie's death."

"The situation is going to be very intense this year," Cuse adds. "Charlie wrote on his hand 'not Penny's boat', and the message he wrote on his hand was very important." In other plot developments, Kate faces trial and we learn more of the mysterious Jacob: "We do know how Jacob will be depicted” admits Cuse. “Notice the careful wording of my answer. And no, Jacob did not appear before he was met by Locke."

Another island mystery that of the statue with only four toes will also be addressed: "The four-toed statue is something we will get to next season," assures Cuse. "Sometimes we're surprised by the things people get fixated on. We tried to answer a fair number of questions this year, but that's one we just didn't get to."

In casting news, we know that Michael will return, but what of his son Walt? Rumours circulated when the youngster left the show that his growth was to blame for his character’s exit. Lindelof refutes these claims. "As for Walt, we've always known Malcolm was going to grow faster than we could shoot the show. And we planned for it. Trust us. Please trust us."

Is this trust to stretch to the return of Libby? The execs elaborate: "There's really one significant missing piece to Libby's story. We saw in the season [two] finale that she met with Desmond, she gave him his boat, and we know that her husband died — and then we know that subsequent to that, she spent some time in a mental institution, the same one as Hurley. The question the audience wants answered is, 'How did she get from A to B — from Desmond to the mental institution?' We know the answer to that question, but the only way to tell that story is through another character's flashback, and that character would have to be another character on the show who is not among the beach dwellers."

There will be new characters including Minkowski (Fisher Stevens), whose name has already cropped up and a few fresh faces in Russell (Ken Leung) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies.) Sounds good – I can’t wait!

[via Digital Spy]