Evangeline Lilly has traded in one remote filming location on Lost for another in The Hobbit. The star, currently seen in Real Steel on DVD and Blu-Ray, has been in New Zealand playing the elf warrior Tuariel in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. “In some ways, it feels really familiar,” she told Entertainment Weekly of the shoot locales. “I’m from Canada, and New Zealand feels like you took all the best bits of Canada and squished them onto a tiny island like Hawaii. I was absolutely blown away by the beauty of the South Island. I seem to be landing really great locations on a lot of my work. I hope that continues, knock on wood.”
Lilly spills the beans on her character and what to expect from her in The Hobbit. “She is a warrior. She’s actually the head of the Elven guard. She’s the big shot in the army. So she knows how to wield any weapon, but the primary weapons that she uses are a bow and arrow and two daggers,” Lilly said. “And she’s lethal and deadly. You definitely wouldn’t want to be caught in a dark alley next to Tauriel.”
The actress promises that although her character is hardly seen in An Unexpected Journey, in the second film -- There and Back Again -- her role is greatly expanded. “She comes into the first film near the end, and has a very small part to play. Her role in the second film is much more involved,” Lilly said. “Although, I have to say, when I first read the scripts and took the job, she had a lot less going on in the second film. I think the role is becoming a bit more demanding that I had expected it to be. There’s a lot more for me to do now, which is a lot of fun, but it’s a little more pressure.”