WE HAVE TO GO BACK!

And, back to the island we will go on Feb. 2, 2010 when “Lost” returns for its sixth and final season to ABC. The Emmy award-winning series will premiere with a two-hour episode airing at 9 p.m. A one-hour refresher-clip show will precede the broadcast. ABC has also moved “Lost” from its previous Wednesday night slot to Tuesdays.

As you can see by the above TV promo, “Lost” producers aren’t revealing much about the upcoming season. According to E! Online’s Kristen, they have convinced ABC to not show any footage from the new season. She says:

I’m hearing from Lost sources that every single shot of the first few episodes are so revealing that the producers have convinced ABC to NOT SHOW A SINGLE FRAME before the new season airs. No promo scenes, no photos, no nada! So you will be completely in the dark, but it is for good reason: The twists they’re planning are so good, you will WANT to be surprised.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t look for clues in the newly released poster for season six.

From left-to-right, those in the picture are: Daniel Faraday, Boone Carlyle, Miles Straume, Michael Dawson, Ana Lucia, Charlotte Lewis, Frank Lapidus, Shannon Rutherford, Desmond Hume, Mr. Eko, Kate Austin, Jack Shepard, James “Sawyer” Ford, John Locke, Benjamin Linus, Sayid Jarrah, Libby, Sun Kwon, Jin Kwon, Claire Littleton, Hugo “Hurley” Reyes, Juliet Burke, Charlie Pace, Richard Alpert, Bernard Nadler, Rose Nadler and Walt’s dog Vincent.

I don’t see WALT!!! And, where is Charles Widmore? I’m happy to see Claire (Emilie de Ravin) and know that she will be featured in various episodes throughout the season. Executive producer Carlton Cuse also confirmed Charlotte’s (Rebecca Mader) return via Twitter. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, the actor who plays Mr. Eko, lobbied earlier this year to be brought back for the final curtain. Let’s hope the island granted him his wish.

On the poster, John Locke has got his back turned to us (most likely because he is no longer John Locke) and Ben stands right next to him, staring at us dead-on. The two men of faith are the most prominent figures in the poster, taking center stage away from Jack, Kate, Said, Desmond, Hurley, Sun, and Jin. As things stand, Locke is back from the dead and Ben has murdered his personal jesus, Jacob. I see one crazy metaphysical battle brewing.

And, then there’s Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell). The romantic side to my usually rotten personality was hoping that somehow she survived season five’s finale and ended up with Sawyer (Josh Holloway). I was thrilled to hear executive producers Cuse and Damon Lindelof announce that Juliet will indeed be back.

(Spoiler Alert! Don’t continue reading if you don’t want to know a major plot point)

Unfortunately, she’s dead (Aren’t you sorry you know now?).

Carlton Cuse tells EW.com:

As the story is now nearing its conclusion, some characters just aren’t going to make it all the way to the end. Even beloved characters aren’t going to make it all the way to the end. And sometimes we have to do things that are really painful, like killing Juliet, because that’s what makes the story feel like the stakes are genuine, and people feel invested that characters who are beloved can actually perish on our show. It was an enormously powerful story that concluded the entire season of the show. So she was sacrificed in service of the story, and I think was hugely responsible for the season being viewed as successful because that was how it ended.

Daniel Lindelof adds:

Juliet basically birthed season 6 by the actions that she takes in the final seconds of season 5. She is completely responsible for the endgame of the show. So the character is going to be seen in a slightly different light this year. We gave her that action for a reason, and that’s because she’s so important to the fabric of the story.

Man, at this point, I’m just hoping Sawyer makes it out alive. Love this show.