It's Kristin Kreuk's first day on the set of the Earthsea miniseries, and she's spent the morning locked up in a cramped jail cell, occasionally escaping to the sidelines to have the costuming department adjust her medieval dress or to read a few pages in one of the many books she has brought along to stock her trailer with.

Kreuk's role in the four-hour miniseries is that of Tenar, a beautiful young priestess who haunts the dreams of a young wizard (Shawn Ashmore) destined to save his world from an evil tyrant. We snuck off with Kristin to her trailer to discuss her role in all things fantastical.

You've said in the past what an avid reader you are; Have you read the Earthsea trilogy?
I haven't read the books. I feel like it's Smallville all over again, 'No, I never read the comics...' My sister is a huge fan of the novels and she told me a bit about it. I think I would've read the books if I didn't feel like that they've generalized the story a lot. I don't think they've taken any of my character's back story and brought it into this, so I don't know if that's necessarily pertinent to who she is at the moment. I'm trying to "find her" on my own with the material that is there.

Tell us what you think of your character.
She's tough. She's real passionate about what she believes in, and what she believes in is goodness and being a priestess and being true to what she's been taught since childhood. She was an orphan and came to the tombs with nothing. It's everything she knows and everything she believes in, so she's not going to put up with somebody. She's part of something much bigger, and she knows that.

What sort of journey does Tenar take in Earthsea?
I think she starts out really eager and young. She's always strong and she's always passionate, but her beliefs are put to the test and she's just one of the regular priestesses and then is given this opportunity to be high priestess so it's this huge challenge for her and she has all these obstacles put in her way and kind of blossoms through all that into this great, strong woman.

What do you think of Earthsea's message of the world being created by naming it?
The power of giving names to things... That's actually kind of an interesting idea. I guess when you give a name to something you give it life, you acknowledge it's existence. So if you're giving a name to your true self maybe you accept and acknowledge what is there and with that power comes the power of your wizardry or your spirituality.

Shawn has appeared on two episodes of Smallville as a Kryptonite-empowered kid who can leech Clark's powers. How was it to be working with him again?
I don't think Shawn and I ever had a scene together at all. I've heard the greatest things about Shawn, everyone on Smallville loves him, loves him to bits.

Do you have any favorite fantasy books?
I don't read a lot of fantasy... I read a lot, but fantasy is more my sisters thing, and I used to read it to her aloud when she was little. I always enjoyed the stories; I especially love fairy tales like Snow White and everything. And period pieces are always fun to play because you get to wear these great costumes. And the sets are great, except it's hot. HOT, HOT, Hot, hot, hot... But I don't have any specific connection to fantasy, it's just that it's different than just playing mainstream high school.

What are you reading right now?
Right now I'm reading a book on Canadian politics [While Canada Slept: How We Lost Our Place in the World], and this book over here called Norwegian Wood, which my friend recommended to me. I'm not very far into it, I'm not even too sure what it's about yet but I think it's going to be a coming-of-age story... I'm literally on chapter two. I love Irving and Bookerkingsalver and Saramago, I could go on... I love Wuthering Heights. I just like to read.

Do you still swap books with your Smallville co-star Allison Mack?
Allison... Yes, but she doesn't really read that much. On the set of Smallville, I have this unofficial book club where everyone reads books and recommends them to everyone else. So myself, Allison, also Janet Munroe, who has been script supervisor on Smallville for a couple of years and always has a good book going.

What do you think of how Lana evolved on Smallville last season?
It was a great year for Lana in some ways. She's still struggling; Lana is so young, but by the end of the season, I like where she got to, to the point that it was about her finding herself and her loving herself and knowing that she needs to be able to stand on her own two feet and be alone in order to be in a relationship and give herself to other people and I think that she felt that she was relying too much on Smallville and the people in Smallville to go through her life. She has all these dreams and she should pursue them because she has every opportunity to do them.

Do you have a favorite episode from the last year?
I actually haven't seen the last few since I haven't gone back to work yet and they give us the tapes after it airs, so once we go on hiatus we don't actually get any of the tapes until we get back. What happened last year... It's getting to the point where after three seasons you're like, 'Did that happen last year?'