Evangeline Lilly After Lost: Middle-earth, Ant-Man and the Wasp

Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

When Lost ended in 2010, Evangeline Lilly moved into film. She had already appeared in The Hurt Locker in 2008 and she took on smaller projects, but the roles that most people know came from two big franchises. The first was Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, which began in 2012.

Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In The Hobbit films she played Tauriel, a wood-elf captain who was created for the movies and does not appear in Tolkien's book. Opinions on the character were mixed, but Lilly brought a physical, believable action style to the role, and she spoke warmly about the experience of working in New Zealand.

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Her second major franchise was Marvel's Ant-Man. She first appeared as Hope van Dyne in Ant-Man in 2015, alongside Paul Rudd, and then took a bigger role as the superhero called the Wasp in Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2018. It was a notable moment, because the Wasp was the first female hero to have a title billing in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film.

Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

She returned in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in 2023. The part has let her balance action with humour, and the chemistry with Rudd is a big reason that the films work.

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Which role do you prefer, Kate from Lost or the Wasp? I think the answer depends on how you feel about islands.