Are there only four years left for Walter Bishop and Olivia Dunham? JJ Abrams is hinting that, just like Lost, his Fox series Fringe may benefit from knowing exactly how long it has left.
Abrams has recently been quoted as saying that Fringe may benefit from a six year run, like the ABC island drama:
Just as with ‘Lost', we didn't get to a place until the third season where we were saying, ‘OK, we need to know where halfway is... And I feel like that's something that if we're lucky enough to continue going, I do think that at a certain point it would be a really smart thing to start to say, ‘OK, let's figure out what the actual date is so we sort of know how far we should push things.'
Where that point would be is still unknown, the producer went on to say, because the show isn't necessarily staying to its original schedule:
Especially the Walter/Peter story, but certainly with Olivia as well, I think there are certain things that we were actually going to play out longer and we kind of jumped to and did sooner. And then there are other things that we've talked about doing - her stepfather story - that we're putting off. So I feel there's a lot of opportunity for where we're going beyond this season, and I'm going to be bullish and optimistic about that. And I feel like we have a long way to go still, but I think that the show has sort of found a kind of rhythm that is nice to see, and I'm really proud of what we're doing with it.
We admit that we like the idea of creators knowing how long they have left, if only because it means less filler along the way, but we have to add: We're only okay with a set end-date for Fringe if someone can promise us a Walter Bishop sitcom to spin off afterwards.
Abrams Considering an End Point For "Fringe" [Slice of Sci-Fi]