Finally, some answers—just not the ones Lost fans were expecting.

ABC has announced that the island-dwelling series will run for 48 more episodes, to be spread out over three 16-episode seasons, before drawing to a close at the end of 2009-10 season.

Whether that end is heralded with the shattering of a tropical snowglobe, Jack awakening from a long dream, the completion of a stint in purgatory or—as is most likely—some heretofore unseen scenario, the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 will, one way or another, make their way off the island.

The announcement, first reported last week by E! Online columnists Kristin Veitch and Marc Malkin, comes after executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof publicly called for the network to set an end date for the show—not only to assuage viewer fears that the series, which began to shed viewers in its new time slot this year, was not simply treading water to bulk up its episode count, but to allow writers the ability to plot out the remainder of the series according to the creators' original plan.

Lindelof, who first pushed for such a move during January's Television Critics Association conference, said that having a specific date in mind was "incredibly liberating. Like we've been running a marathon and we actually know where the finish line is for the first time."

"What we didn't know was how long we had to play the story out," Cuse told the Hollywood Reporter, adding that the Lost brain trust has always known where they wanted the storyline to end up.

"By defining the end point we can now really map out the rest of the series in confidence," he said. "We sort of view Lost as a mosaic. Now there are only 48 more tiles to go into that mosaic, and we're figuring out, along with all the other writers, exactly where they go."

In January, Cuse and Lindelof, backed by cocreator J.J. Abrams, voiced their concerns that commercial interests (i.e., ABC keeping the show on air until the last viewer turned) potentially would trump artistic interests (i.e., the producers ending the series on a well thought out and hopefully high note), saying that they hoped the show would run for just 100 episodes, or two more full seasons.

The guys just about got their wish.

The final three seasons, at 16 episodes each, will bring Lost to 119 or 120 episodes—the same numbers as if the show carried on for just two 24-episode cycles. By stretching out the show, ABC is able to make the end into more of an event.

Setting an end date also ensured that Lindelof and Cuse would remain with the series through to the end, as making the terminal announcement was a condition of both men reupping with the network.

"In considering the powerful storytelling of Lost, we felt that this was the only way to give it a proper creative conclusion," ABC honcho Steve McPherson said. "And, due to the unique nature of the series, we knew it would require an end date to keep the integrity and strength of the show consistent throughout, and to give the audience the payoff they deserve."

It's a payoff that Lindelof and Cuse claim is set in stone.

"There will be no extensions of enhancements," Lindelof told Variety. "That number [48] is absolute...once you begin to see where we're going, I think the idea of sequels and spinoffs will completely go away."

As to where exactly that is, fans will have to wait until the third season finale, set to air May 23.

E! Online TV columnist Veitch, however, has been touting for weeks that the finale will be a "game changer," which she says the show's writing team is referring to as "the snake in the mailbox," in terms of the direction the show will start to set up the countdown to the end.

ABC also indicated the remaining three seasons will air uninterrupted, à la 24, which means the fourth season won't debut until January 2008.

Fans and critics have groused that the current season, which began with a six-episode run in the fall, failed to gain any creative momentum until the last few episodes. Still, Lost remains in the top 15 most watched shows, averaging 15.1 million viewers, including several key demos. It's also the most TiVo'd show on television, consistently ranks among the most downloaded shows on iTunes and is a strong performer on DVD.