ABC has added more hours to the final two seasons of Lost. The recent WGA strike knocked three hours out of the current season, and therefore to partly compensate, the network recently added an additional hour to Part 2 of the season finale that airs May 29.

In addition, The Hollywood Reporter stated that the 2009 and 2010 editions of the hit drama will be 17 hours each -- not 16 as previously planned.

All told, the changes will wrap up the show with the same number of episodes that producers and ABC negotiated last year.

"We were supposed to do 16-16-16," "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof said. "But we ended up doing 14 this season, so we owe two."

For the upcoming season finale, Lindelof promised a more action-driven cliffhanger instead of the mind-bending flash-forward time shift that stunned fans last season.

"The finale this year will not be as tricky as last year," he said. "Hopefully, this year it's a little bit more of a straightforward action-adventure narrative. But the ending of the episode will hopefully engage and intrigue people looking forward to the next season of the show."

"It's very exciting that the audience is going to be wondering when is the present going to be (next season)," he said. "We've moved backward in time, now we've moved forward in time. The present of the show has always been on the island -- that may not necessarily be the case in the future."

When it comes time to air the series finale in 2010, Lindelof said he and Cuse plan to "go into hiding for many, many months" at an "undisclosed location."