Brothers & Sisters

With the fourth season of Brothers & Sisters concluding in dramatic fashion Sunday, talk has already turned to what we can expect from the Walkers this fall.

Brothers & Sisters producer Ken Olin, who also plays David, looks ahead to Season Five of the hit drama in an interview with the L.A. Times. Excerpts below ...

On the dramatic, often dark tone of the season: "Because it was the fourth season, we wanted to be more dramatic, a little weightier in terms of stories."

"I think one of the things that's an important part of the calculation of a show that you're lucky enough to last is figuring out the rhythms for the seasons."

On the season finale cliffhanger: "Creatively, I think we knew for a long time that we wanted to have a big, dramatic event with an element of a cliffhanger this season. We wanted to leave everyone with the sense of possibilities and a lack of closure."

On Rob Lowe's departure: "That's a complicated subject. To some extent, it took me by surprise. I enjoyed working with him a lot. He was a real important part of the show and he's been a valuable asset for us. I loved [Kitty and Robert's] relationship."

Brothers & Sisters producer and recurring guest star Ken Olin as David.

On the decision to give Kitty cancer: "We had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it's always really good drama. When we did it on thirtysomething, it was probably one of the first times that it had been done, where we took a main character and made them sick."

"It's usually pretty effective. It's definitely an emotional illness, something relatable and something very dramatic and painful. The debate was, do we go there? It was interesting to do it with her character. She was so good. We try to be responsible and try to tell the story well."

On the closing of Ojai Foods: "We've gone pretty far in terms of the potential conflicts that you can have in the food business. What if we redefine the fundamental business context? It's such a defining aspect of a family, when you shatter that definition, it opens up possibilities."

On next season's time jump of one year: "The interesting part is how do these people get to where we're picking them up when that's so different from where we left them. There's just something about things like how you deal with grief that could be lugubrious."