Who is Desmond related to? Who been seen in Hawaii? (Spoilers)

Source:  LOST Spoilers

Question: Your Lost spoiler tease inthis week's Ausiello TV is driving menuts. Can you please give us a hint as to the nature of the connection between Fionnula Flanagan's creepy ring seller and "another major character" who is not Desmond? -- Vanessa
Ausiello: They're related.   

Question: The lack of Lost scoop is killing me. -- Ahmed
Ausiello: Help has arrived! My Lostmole reports that Lance Reddick (a.k.a. corporate recruiter Matthew Abaddon, as well as Fringe's Phillip Broyles) was just spotted in Hawaii shooting what I assume is episode 5.6. Meanwhile, the show is casting the likely recurring role of Hal, a white dude in his 70s who can still fight the establishment and win. Team Darlton is also on the prowl for an actor to play Mike, a thirtysomething scientist who's on the brink of something big. An authentic Czech accent is required. (Of course, when isn't it?)

Ausiello's on LOST (11-07-07)

Ausiello on Lost 11-07-07

Question: What does the strike mean for Lost? Any idea how many episodes they finished pre-strike? Is it still scheduled to air some time in February?

Mike Ausiello: Why do I suddenly feel as if I'm talking to myself, Mike? Why do I also suddenly feel like I'm not going to like what I have to say? At least I know the answer to that second part — it's because I don't like what I have to say. If the strike extends into the new year and beyond, there is a chance ABC may opt to delay the new season until the fall. Or worse yet, February 2009. Another scenario has the network simply airing the eight episodes already in the can this February as originally planned — something Team Darlton would not be in favor of. Says Lost cocreator Carlton Cuse, "Damon [Lindelof] and my concern about running the [eight] episodes we will have made is that it will feel a little like reading half a Harry Potter novel, then having to put it down. There is a mini-cliff-hanger at the end of Episode 8, but it's like the end of an exciting book chapter; it's not the end of the novel. Damon and I didn't write [the ending of Episode 8] differently [with the looming strike in mind]. We wrote it to be the ending of Episode 8." In any case, he concedes that the decision to hold or air the episodes isn't ultimately theirs. "It's really [ABC honcho Steve MacPherson's] call," Cuse notes, adding, "No one was happy with the six-episode run last season."

Question: Now that the writers are on strike, whatever will I do to get Lost scoop? — Maribeth

Ausiello: You can ask, for starters. Have I ever let you down? Whenever the current eight episodes air, keep an eye out toward the end of the run for Zoe Bell, whom Carlton Cuse calls "the stuntwoman extraordinaire, from the Tarantino flicks [Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Grindhouse]. She definitely will make a splash."