The fourth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the ABC network in the United States,[1] and on CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008, and concluded on May 29, 2008.

According to Lost's executive producers/writers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, there are two main themes in the fourth season: "the castaways' relationship to the freighter folk"[2] and "who gets off the island and the fact that they need to get back".

[12]Shortly before production of the fourth season began, Michael Emerson disclosed on a podcast that Annie (played by child actor Madeline Carroll) would return, and viewers would see her adult appearance.

[10] This is set up in the episode "The Other Woman", as Harper Stanhope (Andrea Roth), Juliet's therapist, remarks she looks "just like her", the "her" being an adult Annie.

Annie's identity for Harper's comparison was confirmed by Lindelof in a 2010 podcast (which implies Ben's mother (Carrie Preston) was a red herring).

[15] Showrunner Damon Lindelof also revealed at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con they planned to show how Ben got caught in Rousseau's trap by accident and what he was doing on the other side of The Island (as it was left ambiguous whether it was intentional or not).

[citation needed] Though Furlan stated in her posthumously released memoir that they chose to kill her character off out of spite after she asked for better accommodations with her schedule after facing mistreatment on the set, hence why the reunion storyline was ignored.

"With … a clear finish line in 2010, the creative team could now focus on telling their story without having to worry about how many episodes they had left to work with.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Lost regains its mojo in a fourth season that reaffirms the show's place as one of TV's most unique undertakings.

[34] The fourth season was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, with one win, for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour).

[35] The season earned Lost two Television Critics Association Award nominations for "Program of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Drama".

The eighth episode, which served as the mid-season finale as a result of the writers' strike, brought in 11 million,[38] setting a new series low.

Entertainment president Stephen McPherson commented that while he would "love to see the show grow … the reality is that the numbers are pretty good.