'Lost's Evangeline Lilly on finding the last season

When the JJ Abrams-created show Lost debuted in 2004, it became an instant hit and made stars out of its cast members. The freshest face to emerge was Evangeline Lilly, whose character Kate Austen was the actress’ big break. Before then she only appeared as extras in various TV shows. Lost provided Lilly her first speaking role, and since then she’s become a recognized celebrity around the world.

With the sixth and final season of Lost about to air on AXN Beyond, we got to chat with Evangeline Lilly from Hawaii, where she had just finished shooting her scenes for the series finale.

ON THE RADAR: Which of the many mysteries on the show is your favorite?

EVANGELINE LILLY: I like the numbers; I’ve always been a big fan of mathematics so the numbers are probably my favorite mystery.

Are all the mysteries going to be resolved within the last episode?

You would have to ask somebody who knows what all the mysteries are! Unfortunately I’m not that person, I don’t keep track so I have a feeling, if I had to guess, probably not all of them are overtly solved.

Probably there’s gonna be room for interpretation on some of the mysteries that will be left. That’s my guess, I don’t really know exactly for sure, but that’s what I think. The big themes are resolved, the big questions that we’ve been asking for six years are all resolved. It’s just in the little details they may have not answered every single question. But I don’t know what all the mysteries are; I don’t keep track the way really, really intense fans do.

What do we learn about Kate in this final season?

There’s actually not a lot that we learn about Kate in the final season. Kate became this standard by which normalcy is measured on the island in the past seasons. She’s one of the only normal people left on the island in my humble opinion. So the things we’ve been learning about her, I feel like it came to its pinnacle in Seasons 4 to 5 when she became a mother and that revolutionized her life. I think since then she’s just been learning how to exist in this new skin — this new identity, this new being, which is motherhood.

What can you share with us about the final season — in particular, will the ending destroy our minds?

I hope so! If it doesn’t, we’re in a lot of trouble! My guess is there are gonna be some people who will absolutely love it and people who will absolutely not love it and I think that’s the nature of our show. If we didn’t make some people a little bit annoyed then we wouldn’t be doing our jobs.

So how does it feel to know you’re coming to the end? How’s the cast all taking it?

I think we’re all very prepared for it because the writers were intelligent enough to set an end date three years ago. So we’ve been preparing for this day as much as the fans have. I think for most of us it’s a bittersweet time. It’s exciting, it’s sad, it’s kind of a wonderful time in our lives, to look forward and think of new opportunities as well as the sad times, to say goodbye and let go of dear friends and memories and the times together.

Of course, I have to ask about the time you spent here in the Philippines.

Yeah, I went to the Philippines for three weeks when I was 18.

And this was for missionary work?

It was, yes. It was a short-term missions trip.

What can you tell us about your stay here?

I stayed on the island of Palawan and lived in a grass hut in the jungle with tribal people and it was an incredible experience — the beauty and simplicity of that culture, and the beauty of the land that surrounded me. The lush green jungle was absolutely breathtaking but I was on Palawan so that’s a very different experience from if I had been on other islands. I have to say that I’m grateful I was in Palawan because I feel like that isolation was something that I thought was so beautiful.

Do you have any plans to come back?

No immediate plans but I’m sure one day I will be back. I’m writing a novel and in my novel there’s a character who grew up in the Philippines and so I want to go back at some point to do research for that novel and learn more about what it would’ve been like for her.

What’s been your biggest challenge in doing the show since it started?

The biggest challenge about being on Lost for me has been being thrust into the world of fame and celebrity. It’s the one thing that I’ve never wanted and never valued and I wish that I could’ve done this job without having to become a public figure. But of course that’s not reality, that’s just part of being an actress, that comes with the package. So you learn how to live with it and learn how to deal with it but I’ve never learned to enjoy it.

But that’s a good thing that the show has done well and you have fans, right?

Of course it is! I wouldn’t have a job if it didn’t!

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Lost: The Final Season begins tomorrow night on AXN Beyond at 11 p.m.

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Manila Design Week is upon us! On Tuesday, “Cut + Paste: The Ultimate Design Battle” takes place starting 8 p.m. at The Collective, also known as Makati X. I imagine it’ll be just like those scenes in 8 Mile but with vector graphics and Wacom tablets instead of sick rhymes.

Wednesday is the “What’s In Your Bag?” exhibit at Greenbelt 5, which opens at 7 p.m. and will feature the contents of many a personality of value.

Thursday presents the “Digital Voice” poster design contest for students at Glorietta 5’s activity center starts at 4 p.m.

Finally the big shebang on Friday at Cubao Expo is “Manila Sound Vision,” touted as a music and design tribute to ‘70s Pinoy Rock. There’ll be an exhibit and a lot of bands playing music, some of them debuting new music videos.

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Ramon De Veyra blogs intermittently at http://www.thesecuriousdays.com, but is usually more active on Twitter.