The show creator says the 'Alias' finale is 'powerful' and 'Lost's' is 'the greatest'

LOS ANGELES -- As J.J. Abrams says hello to a movie career, he's saying goodbye to the spy series "Alias" and one more perplexing season of "Lost."

In an interview to promote his film "Mission: Impossible III," the writer-director-producer weighs in on the finales for two shows he created that have won rabid fans since their premiere episodes. In the case of "Alias," Abrams is sorry but prepared to see the series end.

"This is something we have been anticipating for a while. I think it's the right time to end the series," he says. "It's definitely bittersweet for a lot of obvious reasons. It's an incredible cast and crew so we'll miss them but I hope to work with all of them again soon."

As his fans know, this is no empty promise. From his late '90s WB college drama "Felicity," Abrams took supporting actress Jennifer Garner and made her the lead in "Alias" and cast Keri Russell, who played the series' title character, for his film.

The actor who's appeared the most often since his "Felicity" days, however, is Greg Grunberg, who's made stops on "Alias," "Lost," "M:i:III" and will probably have a space reserved for him on all of Abrams' future projects.

"Only as long as I'm directing," jokes Abrams. "No, I'm kidding. Greg, who's my oldest friend since kindergarten, is someone who -- I love working with Greg. He's my good luck charm."

"But in terms of the end of the year, it's actually a really good finale," he continues about "Alias." "I think it's incredibly satisfying. It connects all these pieces that have been in the 'Alias' universe from the beginning and I'm really proud of the work that Jeff Pinkner, Drew Goddard and the other amazing writers in the show have done, not just this year but building up to the finale which I think is going to be a really, really powerful and exciting ending."

So, here's hoping that pseudo-Sydney will get her comeuppance, that Nadia (Mia Maestro) is among the living despite the glass sticking out of her neck and that Sark (David Anders) will get away to wreak havoc another day.

Now in the case of "Lost," closure isn't expected at all. Instead, this cryptic, circuitous show promises to have one doozy of a cliffhanger finale for the season.

"I can tell you that Damon Lindelof has done just that," says Abrams. "The ending of this year in 'Lost' blows the ending of last season out of the water. It's an incredible finale."

Well, action-wise anything will be more exciting than the castaways looking down The Hatch, which is how the first season concluded. This time around, there's twice as many players, including the "tailees" and The Others, and some really messed up stuff afoot, the most recent being Michael's (Harold Perrineau) return from who knows where wielding a gun and shooting real-life drunk drivers Libby and Ana-Lucia (Cynthia Watros, Michelle Rodriguez).

"You'll see what happens but I can tell you that a lot of it has been there and been building from the beginning of this season," adds Abrams. "It's not out of the blue, but what happens at the very end of this year, for me, it's the greatest finale I have ever heard."

Although Abrams hopes to return to "Lost" but also continue his film career, he doesn't think an "Alias" or "Lost" film is in the making.

"Right now 'Alias' is sort of going to rest in just the right way so I think that it's the right way for it to go out," he says and then points out that with "Lost," "I think we make it every week. I honestly don't know what else we would do."

"Alias" will experience its final double-cross on Monday, May 22, and "Lost" will wrap up its second season two days later on Wednesday, May 24.