Amazon has cast Sophie Turner as Lara Croft in its upcoming live-action Tomb Raider series.
Turner, known to many as Game of Thrones’ Sansa Stark, was rumoured to be in talks to play Lara Croft in November last year. She will follow in the footsteps of Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander, who both previously portrayed the globetrotting archeologist in live-action Tomb Raider adaptations.
As previously reported, Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge will serve as the Tomb Raider series’ creator, writer, executive producer and co-showrunner.
“I’m so excited to announce the formidable Sophie Turner as our Lara alongside this phenomenal creative team,” Waller-Bridge said. “It’s not very often you get to make a show of this scale with a character you grew up loving. Everyone on board is wildly passionate about Lara and are all as outrageous, brave, and hilarious as she is. Get your artifacts out… Croft is coming…”
Turner added she was “thrilled beyond measure” to be playing Lara Croft. “She’s such an iconic character, who means so much to so many – and I am giving everything I’ve got,” the actor said. “They’re massive shoes to fill, following in the steps of Angelina and Alicia with their powerhouse performances, but with Phoebe at the helm, we (and Lara) are all in very safe hands. I can’t wait for you all to see what we have cooking.”
Amazon has confirmed production on the series will officially begin next year, on 19th January. Joining Waller-Bridge and Turner on the series are Jonathan Van Tulleken as director and executive producer, as well as Chad Hodge as co-showrunner and executive producer.
The Tomb Raider TV series – which Amazon has previously referred to as “epic” – doesn’t have a release date yet, but will air on Prime Video when it eventually shows up.
Along with the series, Amazon is also working with Crystal Dynamics on the next Tomb Raider game. Details have remained fairly sparse for the upcoming Tomb Raider since it was announced. In fact, all we really know right now is that it is being made in Unreal Engine 5 and will have “mind-bending puzzles to solve” and a “wide variety of enemies to face and overcome”.
In August last year, Amazon Games boss Christoph Hartmann said development on the upcoming Tomb Raider game from Crystal Dynamics and Amazon was “going well”, but did not elaborate much further than that.
This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.