Say goodbye to Evangeline Lilly…for now. The Marvel actress known for her role as Hope Van Dyne in the Ant-Man and Avengers films announced her retirement from acting a couple of days ago. The announcement came as a shock to some, but not her closest fans who knew the Lost and The Hobbit actress has always followed her own path, and had teased stepping away from Hollywood for a long time…
Lilly brought her Marvel obligations to an end with Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania, and now tells Variety that she has no more contractual obligations with them or anyone else…
“I have actually been on a hiatus from acting for the past three years already (since finishing work on ‘Quantumania’),” Lilly told the trade. “This time outside of the business has brought me a grounding sense of fulfillment and joy.”
“I could return tomorrow, two years from now or never, but at the moment I am not actively pursuing any work in the industry and am not under any contractual obligations to anybody. I am devoting my time to my humanitarian work and my writing.”
With Lilly gone for now, does Marvel cast another actress to play Hope? Or does the character simply vanish, written out from all future stories? What would you rather see happen?