Evangeline Lilly Talks About Playing Tauriel in The Hobbit: Warrior, Head of the Guard, Big Shot in the Army

Evangeline Lilly is something of a Tolkien purist, which is an odd attribute to have when you’re starring as one of the only non-canonical characters in a highly anticipated adaptation of The Hobbit. But frankly, we’re glad she’s here. There. (And back again.) Whatever. We’re glad to have her on board the production, and we can’t wait to see Tauriel in action, especially after hearing Lilly describe her. Beginning with the sentence:

“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. And she’s lethal and deadly. You definitely wouldn’t want to be caught in a dark alley next to Tauriel.

At least, so she assured Entertainment Weekly, who then went on to ask her some very pointed questions, as would befit somebody who knew the story of The Hobbit well. For example, whether her character would be on hand when Thorin and Co. are captured in Mirkwood. Lilly was admirably cagey about it.

I think basically what you’re asking is if she’s in the film very much. She’s not in the first film very much. 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. 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 than 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.

This pretty much confirms my own suspicious about where the break between the two films will be: we’re going to get a cliffhanger with the dwarves stuck in the dungeons of the Elvenking, with the battle of the White Council (Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Saruman, and others) against the Necromancer (a not-yet-come-to-full-power Sauron) serving as an emotional climax for the rest of us. That leaves a lot of ground to cover in the first film (intro, trolls, Gandalf discovering the true identity of the Necromancer, Rivendell, the Misty Mountains, Gollum and the finding of the ring, Worgs and Eagles, Beorn, The White Council, and wandering in Mirkwood), and some events to flesh out in the second.

Personally? I’d love to see Tauriel as a elven character who Bilbo convinces to sympathize with the wrongfully imprisoned (if haughty and rude) dwarves, and then aids in their escape. That seems a little less likely now that she’s head of the elven guard. Lilly says she doesn’t know yet if she plays a big role in the big battle at the end of the book, since it hasn’t been filmed yet. She’s got five more months of being paid to walk around New Zealand in a suit of armor with weapons she’s been trained to use.

/sigh

Can I be Evangeline Lilly?

(via MTV Movies.)