While it's no surprise that Emilie de Ravin will be reprising her role as Claire on season six on Lost, Ausiello did just break the news that de Ravin will be a series regular during the sixth and final season!

Series creator, Carlton Cuse says "Damon and I are very excited to bring Claire back to the show and even more excited for people to experience just how she will return."

Ooh, so just how will she return?  EW's resident Lost expert, Doc Jensen guesses:

"Any scenario that brings Claire back to Lost must address the mysterious circumstances of her disappearance at the end of season 4, in which many of us were led to believe that she was as dead -- or rather, undead -- as the Ghost Christian that's been haunting The Island since season 1. So here's one thought: Juliet changed time in the season finale by detonating Jughead, and season 6 will tell the story of the new timeline, one in which Claire is alive."

Jensen continues with another theory:

"In light of the revelation that John Locke was actually a supernatural impostor for half of season 5, perhaps in season 6, we'll get a storyline in which Claire just emerges out of the jungle, with no memory of what happened to her -- just like season 1 -- and we and the castaways will be left to wonder: Is this the real Claire or another impostor infiltrating them a la Locke? Heck, maybe that's going to be the major idea of next season: Who's really alive and who's really (un)dead? It really will be the fabled zombie season of Lost."

Eric Hochberger is the programmer of TV Fanatic, so please forgive his mediocre writing. His programming is far better. Follow him on Twitter and/or email him. Just don't request threaded comments. They're coming.