FLASH FORWARDING LOST

Could LOST ever have a television sequel?

It is doubtful, but you can always imagine that network executives recycle old series all the time.

If LOST was Survivor meets Robinson Caruso, then a new edition could be The Love Boat meets Lord of the Flies if a cruise ship runs into a reef off shore, and a ensemble of passenger and crew survivors make it ashore.

But any sequel would have the daunting task of clearly stating what the island was, and who is in charge. The original series had difficulty figuring that one out.

Who would be left on the island? What would be its function or purpose?

In the post-LOST DVD world, there was a short take on Hurley's reign as guardian but that to most fans is not canon but revisionist history. All that was clear was Ben telling the Dharma food drop people that their jobs had been terminated. So did Hurley merely shut down the final strings of the Dharma era or did he shut down the island itself completely?

A sequel starring Hurley and Ben would be boring; in the sideways finale there was no coup or bad blood between Hurley and Ben.

What if Hurley wanted to move on but other people on the island did not? For example, Rose and Bernard seemed content to stay in their cottage away from civilization. When Hurley left, did he force them to leave to? Or did Rose and Bernard become the new guardians? Probably not.

Would there still be Others roaming around the jungle or temple? Perhaps. We never saw what happened to Cindy, Emma or Zach. They may be still hiding in the jungle, fearful of the smoke monster's return. Playing long form hide and seek from a perceived danger would not make a compelling show.

And would not the smoke monster(s) return to their island? Jacob and MIB were immortals (non-human). Were their alleged deaths faked? And if so, would not the sequel be merely a re-hash of the old scripts around the "conflict" between Jacob and MIB?

A sequel could answer a lot of questions left open when the original series terminated, and for that reason alone, TPTB will not create a new LOST.