Exclusive: 'Brothers & Sisters' time warp deets!

Image Credit: Eric McCandless/ABCAll that wine-guzzling is finally catching up to Brothers and Sisters‘ Walker clan: The entire family is about to lose a year of their lives! As I revealed in Ask Ausiello this week, the ABC drama will likely flash-forward 12 whole months between the May 16 finale and next season’s premiere. In this exclusive interview, executive producer David Marshall Grant reveals why a time jump is being considered and what the fallout would be for the Walkers.

What are the advantages to leaping forward?

DAVID MARSHALL GRANT: We all know that Rob [Lowe]’s not coming back next year… [so Kitty] is going to be single next season. It’s going to be a little bit more of a nod to where we were in the first season with her dating. And when you add to that the possibility of jumping a year, it could be really good for us. Basically, by doing this all bets are off in terms of where everybody is.

Is there any chance you won’t do this?

GRANT: At this point the odds are strong that we will do [a jump] or something like that that would shake us up in some way.

A couple years ago this would be considered groundbreaking. But now that it’s been done on Desperate Housewives, Battlestar Galactica, and Lost, it feels like it’s becoming a bit of a gimmick. Is that a concern?

GRANT: That’s a problem with television in general in the sense that it’s very hard to come up with something new. So much has been done over the years — and done well. You always battle that “it’s been done before” notion. It’s all about the execution. An idea can be interpreted as a gimmick but if it’s executed in a way that creates new and exciting stories then it becomes worth it and people forget it was done a thousand times before.

With Gilles Marini returning as a series regular, is it safe to say Sarah would be more settled in her relationship with Luc after the jump?

GRANT: Yes. We’ll be exploring Kitty as a single woman and Sarah and Luc as a couple.

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