S4 SPOILERS

Carl Lumbly, who co-stars in ABC's spy series Alias, told SCI FI Wire that season four of the show will portray the ensemble cast as a more cohesive group than season three. "If I can sort of give a broad overview for the season, we're going back," Lumbly said in an interview. "When we first found our group, they were dysfunctional. But they were together, and this season, I think we're heading back to that."

Lumbly plays CIA officer Marcus Dixon, who is the former partner of Jennifer Garner's Sydney Bristow. Lumbly said that the show's appeal lies in its willingness to forego formula. But that sometimes creates off-kilter or unexpected results. "It's the first show in my experience where the formula, so to speak, doesn't mean anything," Lumbly said. "Most shows, when they find something that works, they cling to it, and our show is just continually transmuting itself to another level. It feels to me like the thing you must set out as part of a goal is to draw as many different storylines and then resolve as much as possible. But we're kind of all coming from the same place. This season, we're a lot clearer about who we are and where we are, and from that perspective we're turning more towards what was going on in the first two seasons." Season four of Alias begins in January.