New character first appears in episode 3.17 until end of season. Female, mid 20's to 30. Tough, fit, very intelligent. Not American.

Cuse and Lindelof reveal: I think the Desmond-Penny love story is really central to the whole overall mythology of the show. [Desmond] sort of leveled Charlie with this very sort of specific proclamation at the end of the episode, that Charlie is going to die. And coming down all the way through the end of season three, that becomes a very major storyline that we're following, which is, Desmond keeps seeing Charlie die and can he stop it? Is he powerless to stop it?

Lost was filming at St. Andrew's Cathedral today (Friday, Feb. 23). This is the same church that Charlie visited in Season 1, and where Mr. Eko worked in Season 2. This time, it was for Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick). He was neatly shorn and wearing a long, grey robe, so I'd guess he was more than just a visitor. He was talking to a man in a long black robe and skull cap... and soon got down on his knees, palms together and up, as if to receive communion.

I'm pretty sure [the new female regular is] a subterranean character. Damon and Carlton seemed to admit there's a whole underground contingency on the island in the latest Lost Redux video clip.

Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz reveal: [We will explore] what's going on with Penny and Desmond. You know what we started in the finale of season two? We'll continue to explore that. Plus, there's another big revelation on that front coming up pretty soon. Source: Lost - The Official Magazine, Issue #10

ABC updated their press release for this episode and gave a name to Marsha Thomason's character: Naomi.