Evangeline Lilly talks THE HOBBIT

Evangeline Lilly seemed to step quietly out of the spotlight when Lost ended its run on ABC, but she’s stepping back into the public eye in a major way with a new role in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, even though she’s worried that she’ll end up being a “black mark” on the project.

After spending six seasons as Kate Austen on Lost, Lilly was ready to take a little time off to spend time with her family and focus on writing, but the siren call of acting couldn’t be ignored for too long, and working on The Hobbit has a major plus that other actors might view as a downside.

“I will be in and out of New Zealand for the course of a year. It worked out well,” Lilly recently revealed to UK website, SFX. “For a lot of actors, being that tied down would be problematic for their careers because they wouldn’t have the freedom to take any other part in the meantime. For me it’s perfect because I want to have time to spend with my family and relax and focus on my writing. This role gives me a framework within which to do that because I’m not working all the time but I’m working enough. When you’re not working at all, you get lost in space and time and don’t accomplish anything. It’s a flexible work environment and I don’t have to be estranged from my family.”

Still, while the schedule is perfect for her plans, Lilly does have a concern about her portrayal of the Elf, Tauriel, who didn’t appear in J.R.R. Tolkien’s books.

“Yeah! I am very concerned to this day that people will watch the film and I’ll be the black mark on the film,” Lilly says. I know how adamant the purists are and I’m one of them! That said, upon reading The Hobbit again, as an adult, I can see why additional characters were needed to round out the story as an adaptation – especially female characters! The Hobbit didn’t include female characters at all and was a very linear story, a book for children, really. What Peter, Fran (Walsh) and Philippa (Boyens) have done is all in perfect keeping with Tolkien’s world, while adding a third dimension to an otherwise very two-dimensional story.”

Lilly will find out how fans feel about Tauriel when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey arrives in theaters on December 14, 2012. In the meantime, you can catch her on the big screen when Real Steel punches its way into theaters on October 7th.