The third season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced on October 4, 2006 and concluded on May 23, 2007. It continues the stories of a group of over 40 people who have been stranded on a remote island in the South Pacific, after their airplane crashed 68 days prior to the beginning of the season, while they are antagonized by a group of mysterious island inhabitants they call "The Others."
The season was produced by Touchstone Television (now ABC Television Studio), Bad Robot Productions and Grass Skirt Productions and was aired on the ABC Network in the U.S. Its incidental music was composed by Michael Giacchino. The executive producers for the third season were Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Jack Bender, Bryan Burk, Jeff Pinkner and J.J. Abrams. The staff writers were Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Jeff Pinkner, Drew Goddard, Christina M. Kim, Elizabeth Sarnoff, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Celebrated comicbook writer Brian K Vaughan also joined the writing staff midway through the season. J.J. Abrams also returned to the writing staff for a brief stint before departing to direct Star Trek. The regular directors throughout the season were Jack Bender, Stephen Williams, Paul Edwards and Eric Laneuville. In the U.S. the third season averaged 14.6 million viewers per episode.