Back on the island, "Lost" begins a new season

Fans of "Lost" were stunned in May when the third-season finale twisted the show's premise into a shocking new direction.

A flash forward — rather than the show's trademark flashback — revealed that Jack (Matthew Fox) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) eventually make it off the island. But that jaw-dropping disclosure wasn't the biggest surprise for Elizabeth Mitchell, who joined the series last season.

"I was kind of amazed that Juliet was still alive at the end of the season," Mitchell said of her mysterious character. "It kind of seems like they bring new people in so they can get killed for the most part. ... Every day I expected death."

With her sly smile and plaintive eyes, Juliet's motives remain unclear.

"She has very good reason, to her, for doing all the things that she does," Mitchell said. "Whether or not she does it for good, or whether or not she does it for evil, is what we're going to have to figure out."

In the eight episodes completed before the writers' strike, Jorge Garcia, who plays Hurley, promises there will be more flash forwards.

"The whole idea of rescue has returned to the show," Garcia said. "We kind of put that on the back burner, and it became, 'How do we survive here?' Now it's the chance that we can actually get off and go home."

He said he was flabbergasted when executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse told the cast of their flash-forward plans.

Garcia said he was "just trying to let it sink in and trying to figure out, 'What does this mean? How do they tell the story now?' ... And they said, 'Well, luckily, that's not really your responsibility.' And there's a great solace in that."

Frustrated fans found a similar solace last year when ABC announced an end date for "Lost": The series is slated to wrap up its run with three 16-episode seasons (including the season that begins Thursday), although the timing likely will be affected by the writers' strike.

Season 3 had much of the cast in disparate story lines, leading to some backlash from fans and critics.

"When you get a show that people are as passionate about as they are about our show, there's definitely going to be people who aren't going to be happy with it," Garcia said.

Mitchell promised that this season the characters will spend more quality time together. New to the cast this season are Jeremy Davies, Ken Leung, Jeff Fahey and Rebecca Mader.

Harold Perrineau, whose Michael was last seen sailing away to freedom, returns to the series — as does Cynthia Watros's Libby, who was murdered by Michael in Season 2.

Does that mean we could see more of Libby and Hurley together? Garcia chose his words carefully.

"I can confirm you will see more of Hurley. And I can confirm you will see more of Libby," he said. "But I cannot confirm that you will see more of Hurley and Libby."