Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. Before the pilot was shot during the writing phase, Jack Shephard died when the group finds the cockpit and Kate was to emerge as the leader for the survivors, motivating them to build shelter and begin considering life as permanent residents of the island, however when it was decided he should survive, she was a second-in-command. In this original description for Kate, she was a slightly older woman separated from her husband, who went to the bathroom in the tail-section of the plane. However, that idea ended up being used for Rose Henderson and her husband Bernard Nadler. Kate is involved in a love triangle with Jack and Sawyer and is seen as very protective of Claire and her baby Aaron.