Kate Austen

Grew up… hating her abusive stepfather in rural Iowa. When she found out he was in fact her biological father, she burned his house down – with him inside. She went on the run for years, ending up in Australia, where she was finally captured and sent home in cuffs to face criminal charges on the doomed Oceanic Flight 815.

Living... with a secret among the other Flight 815 survivors on the spooky South Pacific island where it crashed. Kate becomes close with Jack, the de facto leader of the group, but works hard to prevent him from learning that before their plane crashed she was on the run from the law.

Profession... Jack’s right-hand man on many missions. She follows him to debris to recover the plane’s transmitter, and into the jungle to find Claire when she goes missing. She gained Jack’s trust when she stitched up a wound for him after the crash, but she worries that might change if he discovers her past.

Interests… keeping a low profile and getting off the island before her past catches up with her. During her exploration of the island, she comes across a black horse that looks awfully like one that played an important role in her life back home. Needless to say, she’s pretty interested in that, too.

Relationship Status... caught in a love triangle between Jack and Sawyer. Sure, Jack fights for what’s right and cares about the good of the group. But when Kate and Sawyer are attacked by a polar bear, Sawyer protects her and kills the beast. (There are polar bears on this tropical island. Yeah, it’s pretty weird.) The con man Sawyer and the closet criminal Kate have much more in common than she wants anyone to know. 

Challenge... your usual mix of polar bears, secrets and something in the jungle that sounds (and acts) like some kind of monster. Plus that U.S. Marshal who brought her aboard the flight in handcuffs might still be alive. Better get to him before someone else does. He knows way too much.

Personality... resourceful and tough, but paranoid. She’s never been afraid to do dirty work if it meant justice. But when her morality doesn’t quite line up with the FBI’s, she becomes a fugitive. Kate never loses the mindset of someone on the run, forever looking over her shoulder, even when she washes up thousands of miles away from anyone who knows her. So she gravitates toward whomever she can trust in the moment, even if that means changing her alliances every few days.