Michael Emerson talks about season 6

Still care about ABC's Lost? Here's 'Ben' on what's coming in the final season

As usual, all things about ABC's Lost are hush hush, lest any posters on the Fuselage message boards get wind of spoilers, but rumors persist that long-departed cast members such as Maggie Grace may return for at least one appearance in the show's sixth and final season.

First things first though: Are the regulars still coming back? Season five ended with a bomb exploding in the past, possibly erasing the entire present of the show.

Michael Emerson, who plays Ben Linus, confirmed that at least he is still an active part of the show. "My understanding is that I am," Emerson said in an exclusive interview last week at the Saturn Awards in Burbank, Calif. "For how much of season six, that's a good question."

Yes, more cryptic answers from the actor who plays the most cryptic character on the show. He even kiboshed my theory about erasing the present timeline. If the bomb prevented the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, seeing everybody live happily ever after wouldn't earn high ratings for the finale.

"I could see why you might think that, but from my perspective as playing that character who arrived late on that show, it doesn't sound terribly dramatic unless there's something in that equation that I don't quite get," Emerson said. "I'm just curious about what dramatic paths we'll follow."

One dramatic path might be further explorations of the mysterious Jacob. The fifth season finale revealed Jacob as a corporal presence, but still not quite human. Ben stabbed him, intending to kill Jacob. "I'm still not sure that he's a person like you and [me]," Emerson said. "I'm still not sure he's a person like Ben. Is he killable? I don't know. We haven't been to his funeral yet so I don't know. I don't know where all that's going."

Season six might finally give us a Ben flashback. We've seen Ben in flash-forwards, sending Sayid on assassination missions and trying to shoot Desmond. We've met Young Ben in the past, but we have yet to see Ben flash back to reflect on his own adult life.

"What constitutes a proper Ben flashback?" Emerson said. "There are some gaps in Ben's bio, and I think we may look backward a couple of times this season. I'm just guessing."

Don't expect any big changes for Ben, though. While audiences have seen him go from Henry Gale to the evil leader of the Others to a sympathetic young boy, Emerson has always acted as Ben and will continue to do so. "Ben has always seemed straightforward to me, and I don't think Ben has changed much over time," he said. "I think audience perceptions of Ben has changed."

Source: Scifiwire