Tomb Raider: Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner confirmed to play Lara Croft for Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Amazon series
Last year, we heard rumblings about Game of Thrones and X-Men franchise star Sophie Turner exploring ruins and smashing priceless pottery as Lara Croft for a Tomb Raider series from Fleabag and Killing Eve creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Today, reports are pouring in that the long-gestating project is happening, with Turner poised to play Lara Croft.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the creator, writer, and executive producer of Amazon’s Tomb Raider series. Chad Hodge (Single All the Way, The Playboy Club, Wayward Pines) and Jonathan Van Tulleken (Shōgun, Dope Thief) are executive producers. In addition to executive producing, Tulleken will direct the production. Production begins on my birthday, January 19, next year.
Amazon greenlit Waller-Bridge’s Tomb Raider series in May 2024, with Turner circling the role six months later.
Speaking about the series last year, Amazon MGM Studios Head Jennifer Salke said Waller-Bridge’s adaptation is an “epic” and “globe-trotting” passion project that the studio is eager to tackle. Echoing Salke’s excitement, Waller-Bridge said, “If I could tell my teenage self this was happening I think she’d explode. Tomb Raider has been a huge part of my life and I feel incredibly privileged to be bringing it to television with such passionate collaborators. Lara Croft means a lot to me, as she does to many, and I can’t wait to go on this adventure. Bats’ n all.”
“God, it literally felt like that teenager in me saying: do right by her, do right by Lara,” Waller-Bridge said when Amazon approached her about the Tomb Raider series. “The opportunity to have, as we were talking earlier, a female action character…. Having worked on Bond and having worked as an actor on Indy, I feel like I’ve been building up to this. What if I could take the reins on an action franchise, with everything I’ve learned, with a character I adore, and also just bring back some of that ’90s vibe? And it’s such a wonderful feeling to think you know what to do.”
Initially, the role of Lara Croft was a toss-up between Sophie Turner and Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody), with names like Emma Corrin and Mackenzie Davis falling away from the competition.
I’m looking forward to seeing what Sophie Turner can do with the role of Lara Croft for Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Tomb Raider series. Lara Croft is as iconic as they come regarding female heroines in the video game space, much like Metroid’s Samus Aran, Princess Peach of Super Mario Bros. fame, Princess Zelda, Jill Valentine of Resident Evil, Ellie from The Last of Us, Street Fighter‘s Chun-Li, and more. We can’t wait to see Turner do her thing as the beloved ponytailed pottery smasher!
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