Co-creators and executive producers Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams wrote the premiere's teleplay based upon a story by Lindelof. The episode was Abrams' first "Lost" writing credit since the pilot. They laid out the third season with the idea of "us versus them"; Carlton Cuse, a showrunner, explained, "And who is us? And who is them? I mean I think we all tend to objectify people who we don't know much about and I think that's the audience's view of The Others right now -- they are bad, they are the malevolent force on the island. But over the course of the stories we're going to be telling this season on the show we expect the audience's view of The Others to change a lot."