Lost's Sheila Kelley: Zoe Plays a Huge Part in the Mythology of the Island

If you're wondering why Lost would introduce yet another new character with just a few episodes remaining, don't take your complaints to Sheila Kelley: The actress says her character, Zoe, will prove to be highly important to the island and the show. She also talked about whether she's as evil as her boss, Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), and whether her plans on the island go beyond doing his bidding. Needless to say, spoiler alert.

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TVGuide.com:  How much have the producers told you about Zoe?
Sheila Kelley: A lot. I've shot six episodes so far. We're shooting Episode 16 and I love this character. I find her absolutely intriguing and interesting. I love the technique that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse choose to work with their actors. It's kind of like what happens when you're dropped into somebody's life. I have to make up my own back story and balance out the things that aren't on the page to support what I'm acting. I find it challenging and fun.

TVGuide.com: Do you know whether she is good or bad?
Kelley: I love not knowing what the next move is going to be. Just when I think she's evil, she's not. And just when I think she's not, she is. The whole show right now is so much about the epic mystical story of good versus bad, and it just swings by a thread. She really believes what she is doing is the right thing to do and you'll understand that more when you see the upcoming episodes.

TVGuide.com: Well, what is she there to do?
Kelley: She is there on the island looking for somebody and she's looking for something. She will know who it is when she finds that person. She also believes she has the answer.

TVGuide.com: How did she come to work with Charles Widmore?
Kelley: She is a geophysicist. I think that she's very brilliant and loves what she does. She is a maverick in her field and believes there are more answers than the status quo is willing to buy into. So she wants to bring the concrete world of physics and geology into much more esoteric happenings, like time travel and the energy of the island. She's bridging the gap between science and belief. It's a strong theme throughout the whole show.

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TVGuide.com: Is she loyal to Widmore to a fault?
Kelley: Very. That's a powerful question for this character.

TVGuide.com: Does Zoe play a larger role in the mythology of the island?
Kelley: The first thing I did was looked up the name Zoe, and it means "life" in Greek. It's a very strong mythological name and there's a lot of mythology on the island. So yes, she does.

TVGuide.com: Has she been to the island before?
Kelley: This is her first time, but she's a strategist and very cunning. She prepared very rigorously to come to the island for what she needs to do, and what she needs to do is huge. She's 20 steps ahead all the time... or she likes to believe she is.

TVGuide.com: Will we see her off the island in the alternate universe?
Kelley: Possibly. Her job is very much in the present. She's very aggressively going after what she believes will be the answer.

TVGuide.com: Last week's episode set up a lot of double-crossing. What can you say about that?
Kelley: Who aligns with whom and who's good and who's not is part of the journey that will be so incredible and radically different than anything [you'll see] on TV in the next coming months.

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TVGuide.com: Are the choices of alignments bigger than Widmore vs. Ben or Jacob vs. the Man in Black?
Kelley: If you think there's only two... [Laughs] It's big. It's really about life. It's about the choices you make in life. Think of Lost not as a two-sided coin, but as a diamond of choices.

TVGuide.com: Have you seen the final script? Do you know what's coming in the end?
Kelley: I actually haven't read the finale. I've only seen it in the hands of the director. I don't even know if I'm in the finale.

With the final season already half-way over, which mysteries are you looking forward to being solved?