There is speculation in some quarters that the cast could be split up into different story arcs next season. Are you aware if this is the plan?

Keep in mind that speculation is just that -- speculation. In general, all shows try to have seasonal arcs, multiple episode arcs and individual episode arcs. In season 2, there were story arcs that ran eight eipsodes (bring the tailies to the same beach as the fuselage survivors), and the Henry Gale arc. Since the season 2 ended with the characters in different places, I would guess that episodes might try to give a sense of what is going on in those different places. Or they could do the same thing they did with the first three episodes of season 2 where the first one was mainly Jack and the hatch centric, the second one raft centric, etc. You'll have to tune in and see.