After Phoebe Waller-Bridge made it big with Fleabag in 2019, it didn’t take her long to sign a deal with Amazon Studios. However, not much has come of that deal in the seven years since. She was briefly involved with the streamer’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith reboot, but left the series due to creative differences. At least there was always one sure thing on the horizon: a series starring Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner as Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. Now, we finally have our first look at the leading lady.
According to a press release from Amazon, the image below marks the beginning of production for the series, which also stars Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, and Martin Bobb-Semple. While we still don’t have a release date, the series has finally escaped development hell and will presumably reach our screens one of these years.
Not much can be gleaned from this photo, although fans of the original games will note that Turner is wearing the archeologist’s classic outfit, right down to her trademark thigh holsters and the turquoise tank top she sported throughout the first five games. Maybe that implies the series will be pulling from the franchise’s pulpier early days rather than its grittier reboot games, but that’s just a wild guess.
Lara Croft has had her fair share of movie adaptations, and the character recently found a new life with an animated Netflix series. But the franchise has never explored live-action television before, and Waller-Bridge might be the right person to make it work. She’s proven her mettle with the adventure genre, having worked on the script for the latest Bond movie and co-starred in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Now, we’ll see what happens when she can take total creative control.
