Alongside all the old Middle-earth faces lining up to return for The Hobbit are a host of all-new players to become acquainted with. One of these is Tauriel, played by Lost ’s Evangeline Lilly who was been speaking to Entertainment Weekly about what we can expect from her character.



Tauriel is one of the Elves of Mirkwood, and from the sounds of things, she knows how to handle herself in a fight.



“She is a warrior,” confirms Lilly. “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.”



However, we may have to wait until 2013 to see Tauriel in all her arse-kicking glory, as Lilly says she features in the second film a lot more than she does in the first.



“She’s not in the first film very much,” says Lilly. “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 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.”



Clearly Peter Jackson was impressed by what he saw, and decided to make more room for the bow-wielding warrior. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in the UK on 14 December 2012.