At last night's Paley Fest 2009, the producers and cast of Big Love were on hand to talk about the upcoming season four storylines.  To start off, Will Scheffer confirmed that Roman is in fact dead by saying, "He's absolutely dead. This isn't one of those vampire shows. Dead is dead on this show."

From there, Mark V. Olsen told E! Online that the plotlines revolving around Roman, however, are not over.  He said, "There's Roman's funeral, and his presence on the show is huge next year. He's still a looming presence. Things are coming to light that were hidden; things are coming up from the past, from the grave."

Though Olsen did say they "don't do flashbacks" so do not expect to actually see any more Roman walking around.

As far as other Big Love season four story lines, Mark says, "A theme we're exploring this season is the subjugation of women. It's not as if we haven't done this before, but we're going to do it in a deeper way."

Instead of past seasons where each wife got their own storyline, this time around the whole family is going to be involve in the season's overall story arc.  Additionally, the Church of Bill is here to stay!

Bill Paxton says, "I'm ready for us to become who we are without all the fighting and for Barb to really know that she's on this thing. I want her to be Bonnie to my Clyde. I want to see us take on the world, be a little more empowered, to see my empire grow. I think the Church of Bill could be a go, and Bill the Prophet could be in the cards."

Also, expect Barb to establish herself a little more this season.  Jeanne Tripplehorn says, "The Henricksons are truly starting their own faith, and I hope that Barb takes a real active role.  She's always been on the fence [about polygamy], so it will be interesting to see her try and embrace it."

Chloe Sevigny, meanwhile, says that her character, "Nicki's got Cara Lynne to deal with this season, but you know Nicki will always be Nicki."

Without Roman, we're going to need a new villain to step up. Matt Ross says, "Now that his father's disposed of, [Alby] can flex his muscles. With the vacuum created by Roman's absence, there will be some kind of power struggle

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.