Lawless, the star of TV shows Spartacus and Xena: Warrior Princess, was one of seven Greenpeace protesters charged with burglary after they spent 77 hours on top of an oil ship in New Plymouth earlier this year.
The group boarded the Shell contracted oil-drilling ship, the Noble Discoverer, to prevent it heading to the Chukchi Sea, off the coast of Alaska, to drill three exploratory oil wells.
Greenpeace also called on Shell to cancel its plans to open up the Arctic to oil drilling.
During the four-day occupation more than 133,000 people sent an email to Shell executives telling them to cancel their plans to drill in the Arctic, Greenpeace said.
The protesters finally came down after police arrived and climbed up the tower to arrest them.
The group was due to appear in New Plymouth District Court a few days after the demonstration but the appearance has been put off on more than one occasion.
Today Lawless tweeted that she would be heading to court tomorrow to face the burglary charge.
But she added, "Doing the right thing hurts sometimes. Gotta be done''.
A criminal conviction could impair Lawless' ability to travel to America - where she often has to work.
At the time of her arrest, Lawless said: "This chapter has ended, but the story of the battle to save the Arctic has just begun.''
