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I’ve been thinking a lot about the things we learned at Comic-Con, I’ve put two and two together, and I’ve come up with a BIG theory on what I think the shape of Season 6 could be.
For prep, first watch the following videos that were shown at the Lost panel at Comic-Con:
Like a lot of fans, I’m troubled (and amused, of course) by these fake “commercials” we were shown at the Lost panel, because along with the revelation that a lot of characters we haven’t seen in a while will be back, the panel seemed to be telegraphing that the detonation of the hydrogen bomb at the end of Season 5 did in fact succeed in changing history and preventing the castaways from ever arriving on the island — effectively erasing the last 5 years of the show.
Even more troubling: the commercials seemed to indicate that more than just the last 5 years have been effected — which makes sense, since the bomb was detonated in 1977, and its effects have apparently rippled out to events that took place long before the castaways ever came to the island. Consider this logic…
The commercials showed us that a different history or a different reality, if you will, has (possibly) been created by the detonation of Jughead the hydrogen bomb. A reality where Oceanic 815 never crashed on the island, where the castaways never met, where Hurley never experienced any bad luck after winning the lottery, Kate’s attempted murder of her father in 2001 results in the accidental death of someone else instead, and so forth.
How could all of this be possible? Well, if Jughead’s blast damaged or destroyed the island, then it’s conceivable that Hurley might never have encountered the Numbers through his Australian friend at the mental institution. How Kate’s predicament occurred, I have no idea, but apparently there’s been a major “butterfly effect” at work.
Anyway, nobody wants this to be the case, right? Who wants to watch a show in which 5 years of events have been removed from canon?
But before we panic, let’s remember that when asked about this very thing by Jorge Garcia at the panel, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, Lost‘s masterminds, replied, “just trust us.”
Okay, Damon and Carlton, you’ve earned our trust. But how will they make this work? How can it be that history has been changed… and yet it hasn’t?
Could there be a third possibility?
I was thinking about another statement that Darlton made at Comic-Con, that there would be no more flashforwards or time travel, but instead there would be a whole new plot device employed for Season 6. Lost has always employed the storytelling structure of “shifting” from one timeframe to another. So the thought occurred to me: what if Season 6′s “shifting” device is based around this duality of “history has been changed” vs. “history hasn’t been changed”?
Let me explain.
One scene might show events on the island, post-hydrogen bomb explosion, where history hasn’t been changed, when suddenly the shoooom sound effect hits and we shift… to a reality where history has been changed, and one of our characters is living out their lives with Oceanic 815 never having crashed on the island. Maybe we’ll be watching a scene of the castaways recovering from the blast at the Swan station, suddenly followed by a disorienting shift… to Kate on the run as a fugitive, or Jack conducting a particularly difficult surgery, or Hurley enjoying his life as a millionaire.
What if Season 6 shifts back and forth between these two realities? The one we know from the last 5 years of the show, and the new one that’s been created by the Jughead blast in 1977?
How these two realities might be explained and ultimately resolved… I have no idea. But it seems like just the kind of jarring twist this show just loves to deliver to viewers. Suppose that a paradox has been created by the alteration of history, so maybe now there are two different-but-parallel timelines/realities existing adjacent to one another. Presumably, this would have to be fixed before season’s end, maybe with the two realities merging somehow. (And if the show follows previous seasons’ formats of resolving cliffhanger plots within the first six or seven episodes of the season, then the rest of the season could be left to wrap up all the characters and the lingering big mysteries.)
Plus, this scenario has a nice “full circle” feel to it, letting the survivors get a glimpse of what their lives would have been like had Oceanic 815 never brought them to the island, and ultimately having to decide which version of their lives they want. (And it’s an easy guess which version they’d end up picking.)
So there it is. My big Season 6 theory. It’s brash and wild and follows a familiar kind of insane Lost-brand logic. If you think I’m right, pass it on via Twitter, Facebook, email, and anything else you can think of.
Then again… this is Lost, so chances are, I’m probably wrong. We’ll find out either way in January.
Until then, I want to hear your thoughts, theories, and opinions! What do you think of my theory? And what’s yours?
I love the idea of Tom actually being Sawyer esspecially because of the play on names and the fact that Sawyer kills Tom which would be his future self and I think something like that is totally possible. However, Tom’s personallity is very different than Sawyer’s (that and Tom seems to swing the other way if you know what I mean, and Sawyer certainly doesn’t). I love the alternate reality theory though.
Season 6 is going to explore convergent timeline theory. There are going to be three timelines running into one point, 1977 after the jughead detonation, 2004 where 815 never crashed (quite possibly the island was moved in the jughead detonation and therefore not where it was supposed to be when 815 crashed originally in ’04), and 2007 after Jacob got killed.
I’m inclined to believe that the 2007 timeline we saw in season 5 is the endpoint where everything ties together because sans time travel- which Damon and Carlton have openly stated is done- there’s no way for the people there to go BACK.
The losties in 1977 will either be killed before the original 815 crash, which will be no real loss, as their alternate characters are alive and kicking in LA, 2004, OR some of them will live on to become others that we have already seen. Mr. Tom Friendly, for instance, might well be Sawyer having survived since 1977. This one in particular has me convinced. The moment we met Tom Friendly, I thought he looked remarkably like Sawyer. Not to mention the names, TOM and SAWYER, TOM=SAWYER=TOM SAWYER. Also, it would then be really ironic that Sawyer would have killed his future self back in Season 3.
I’m not entirely sure that the other losties in 77 would have survived very far, I can’t really think of who else among the others may be someone else’s future self. But this may also explain why the others used disguises at the beginning. Tom didn’t want Sawyer to recognize himself when he took Walt for example.
The convergent timelines will be resolved similarly to the LOSTies returning to the island in season 5, a series of non-chronologically organized events leading to their return ala 316.
Other things I think we will see through out season 6: The volcano is going to erupt (elsewise it’d have been absolutely pointless to bring it up in season 4, i think it was), Aaron’s importance will be explored (Though reportedly not Walt’s), a Jin from the 2004 alternate timeline will find Sun from the 2007 original timeline (maybe not exactly, but I do think the JinSun reunion will be something like that), the four-toed statue will be destroyed sometime between 1977 and 2004 (possibly in synchronicity with the volcano erupting), we will find out how Ben knew about the FDW- maybe even in one last time travel ploy, we will encounter young Ben again in ’77 (Maybe Ben witnesses some of the LOSTies in ’77 using the FDW)- one way or another, I demand to know how Ben knew about the FDW.
Fascinating, thanks for the theory!
Let me throw one out there… I’ve heard that creators of Alias said they weren’t able to fully develop the plot and got to play with it during Lost. We also know that they put an Easter egg/spoiler for Lost in a Flashforward scene (Oceanic billboard boasting perfect safety record and pointing to alternate reality theory for season 6). On Flashforward, the big day of the flashforwards is April 29, 2010.
Wouldn’t that be the exact same day or thereabouts that the final season of Lost ends? If season six starts in January and runs around 14 or so episodes, it would put us at around April 29. Is it possible that to see other folds and dynamic angles of the story, we need to watch all three shows or at least Flashforward and Lost? Obviously I also notice that some of the same actors are on FF, although different characters and some with different accents and names. For example, Penny isn’t Penny on FF.
I’m going to start watching FF for the number sequence. Call me crazy, but is there some way that the Lost numbers (sequence) is related to the number of episodes, etc.? At any rate, just throwing it out there!
979 days ago
[...] proximity to the electromagnetic anomaly as it detonated. So… could it be that (assuming my big theory about Season 6 is true, and all current evidence makes it look very likely) Desmond’s unique status will [...]
I don’t want to give anything away if you’re avoiding spoilers, but the latest spy report from the set (http://www.approachinglost.com/2009/09/08/season-6-filming-report-at-major-spoiler-location/) appears to support my theory in a big way.
985 days ago
[...] created by Jughead’s detonation has been created. All of this lends further credence to my Big Season 6 Theory that both timelines are going to be depicted concurrently, with the “flashes” (not [...]
I’m sorry, but trying to weave two alternate time lines that diverged 30 years ago and can no longer interact just sounds convoluted and silly. The showrunners said they were relieved that they no longer had to deal with the confusing complexities of telling stories with time travel. You think they’d then go to a story telling mode that is ten times more confusing? How could they even tell a coherent story using that premise? Personally, I think those promotional videos were just a red herring to incorrectly push the most obvious interpretation of the final white screen, i.e. a reset.
Makes perfect sense to me . . . wish that I’d thought of it. It would make for a very tense, involving, and yet logical, season 6.
WOW! Awesome theory!! I LOVE it. It’s very Lost-ish; it makes sense; would allow fans not to feel “duped” for 5 years … and add in the whispers piece mentioned in the comments as well ………….. “By George I think you’ve got it!” Kudos!
Also I’ve wondered for a while if the whispers were actually a result of different realities or even time zones existing at the same time. As in when someone from one reality is in the same place as someone from another reality but they can’t see each other they only hear each other as the whispers? Crazy theory but thought I’d throw it into the pot and see if it triggered any other thoughts for y’all!
Wow! Excuse me for a moment as I restructure my mind after having it blown! Love the theory. Really interested to see how it all plays out. It’s interesting that earlier in the show there was a lot made of the fact that all our beloved characters had little crossovers in their history with the question is this just coincidence or something bigger? Do you think they will answer this or even continue the characters being destined to cross paths off the island in the alternate reality?
Maybe it’s all just to throw us off entirely?
My Son and I are Super Lost fans and discuss it all the time and I emailed him this exact same theory last week. Because like you I got hung up on the fact that next season they said “no more flash-forward’s or time travel, but instead there would be a whole new plot device employed for Season 6”. So hence the alternate universe theory. In fact I went so far as to theorize that the button in the swan station was holding back not only the Electromagnetism but the alternate reality. What if the people we see from time to time that are dead in this reality are crossing over and leading the survivors on a journey to fix the split universes? They always seem to have sound advice (like Libby, Charlie, Ana Lucia and the list goes on or Walt who seems to travel through space and time to give John advice). Now I know some of the people have been Jacob’s nemesis taking their form (another theory most have concluded). Have the dead people we see, been more frequent since the Swan implosion? The implosion did not end the world, so what world was being saved by pushing the button ever 108 minutes? I don’t know; like you said it’s Lost and anything is possible, but I think it’s a sound theory, better that zombies any way : ) They are coming; who are they? People from the other side putting things right for Jacob, and the Survivors???? Who knows but until we find out; all else is progress. Alternate universes and time travel make my head hurt so that’s all I got. Sorry for rambling on…….
Sounds like a great idea. I think your theory would allow everything to work in an organized manner to a satisfying conclusion. Now, here’s hoping they are able to actually bring it all together in the end. The whole “smoke monster” thing still makes me a little leery that they can follow through on promising beginnings.
This has a logic to it, Robin, incorporating some of the new revelations from comiccon and rumors about who’s coming back for the final season. Good job.
I like it!