In the closing moments of the last new "Lost" episode that aired in March, it appeared that the French woman, Rousseau (Mira Furlan), was cut down by an unseen enemy along with her daughter's boyfriend. For fans of Rousseau, a character whose past has barely been explored, it was a disappointing shock. Maybe she was shot with a dart not a bullet?

"They were shot with bullets," confirmed Damon Lindelof, a "Lost" executive producer, who refused to divulge the fates of the shooting victims.

"The good thing about 'Lost' is that being dead can lead to more work," added executive producer Carlton Cuse. "It can improve your standing in the cast by getting killed. If, in fact, Rousseau proves to be dead, it doesn't have much bearing in terms of whether you'll see more of her story. We think the back story of Rousseau and her science team is interesting, and we'd love to tell that story at some point."

After its fourth season run was interrupted by the writers' strike, ABC's mystery-filled hit returns with a run of new episodes starting tonight at 10, leading up to its two-hour finale on May 29.

In a call with reporters last week, Cuse and Lindelof were coy about what happens in the show's future, refusing to comment on reports that "Lost" scenes were recently filmed in London and whether or not another lead character will be killed off.

"If we tease there will be a death, like when Shannon died, then everyone chases it down and spoils it," Cuse said. "If we say everyone is safe, it would ruin the dramatic impact of the finale. We're excited about what's happening. There are some large and seismic events that will happen to the castaways between now and the end of the season. By the end of the season, some people's fates will be clear and others will not be clear."

Other tidbits:

• "There are some compelling events involving Claire [Emilie de Ravin] between now and the season finale," Cuse said.

• Smokey the smoke monster will be featured in tonight's episode, the ghostly Jacob will return before season's end, and at some point producers will revisit the four-toed statue seen in the second-season finale.

• The show's time shifting, which changed at the end of last season with the introduction of flashforwards in addition to flashbacks, could change again. "It's entirely possible that as we move into the future seasons, the question of what is past and present and future could change. It's somewhat dependent on from what point of view we're telling the stories. We don't have hard and fast rules of what we must do. We approach it as, 'This is the narrative we'll be telling in this season of the show.' "

Perhaps more than other serialized shows, "Lost" seems more willing to react to fan objections, most notably the decision last year to curtail the story of Nikki (Kiele Sanchez) and Paulo (Rodrigo Santoro).

"We are big fans of television and we find ourselves able to watch the show and react outside of being producers on the show," Lindelof said. "So when fans have reactions -- they don't like Nikki and Paulo, it's moving too slow or too fast -- we tend to have the same reactions ourselves. It's not bending to their will, our taste tends to run the way our fans do, therefore it feels like we're being a lot more responsive to them."

This year's season finale (code name: "Frozen Donkey Wheel") will be less smoke-and-mirrors than last year's flashforward head trip, Lindelof said. "We present the story in a more accessible way. As far as comparing it to season finales past, it will be a much different animal, but we're very excited about what we've done."

"Lost" will conclude in 2010, and Lindelof said producers have already envisioned the series' closing moments.

"The last scene has been determined," he said. "There would have to be some major shift in both our mind-sets to back off of that."

Now that an end date has been set, it's easier for the producers to plan ahead.

"We sort of view the show as a mosaic," Cuse said. "We're putting tiles in all over the mosaic and when the mosaic is complete, 'Lost' will be complete."