It has been quite a while since the last time we saw famed treasure hunter Lara Croft on the big or the small screen, but that’s finally about to change with the new anime series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft.
Since debuting in the 1996 video game Tomb Raider, Lara Croft has cemented herself as a gaming icon, becoming one of the most famous protagonists in all video gaming history. The heroic adventurer could practically be called the gaming equivalent of Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), as her globe-trotting archeological adventures have led to her facing off against animals, monsters, dinosaurs, and more. Croft has been rebooted a total of three times in the gaming space and has starred in an astounding 19 total entries. With success like that, it’s no wonder why Hollywood eventually wanted to bring Croft to other media formats.
Lara Croft made her live-action debut through Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which was a big enough success to spawn a sequel with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life. Neither of the films were hits with critics, but they were still moderate successes at the box office that found a dedicated audience. The film franchise would then be rebooted again with Alicia Vikander in the simply titled 2018 film, Tomb Raider, which also became an international box office hit despite a prospective sequel never getting off the ground. In between the film reboots, Minnie Driver voiced the character in the first-ever animated Tomb Raider series, ReVisioned: Tomb Raider.
Now Lara Croft will be returning to animation for the first time since 2007. To learn more about the upcoming animated game adaptation and its cast, trailer, plot, and more, here is everything we know so far about Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft.
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When Is ‘Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft’ Coming Out?
Image via Netflix
Though the series was announced all the way back in 2021, no official release timeline for Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft has been announced at this time. Animated series typically take quite a while in the development process, so predicting a timeline for when it will be released can be tricky. For example, Ark: The Animated Series, another video game adaptation with a star-studded cast, has yet to announce a release date since being announced in 2020.
Where Can You Watch ‘Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft’?
Image via Paramount Pictures
Once the upcoming show secures a release date, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft will be available to stream exclusively on Netflix. This means that the upcoming series will be joining Netflix’s long and rapidly growing list of animated video game adaptations. Others include the thrilling anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the critically acclaimed Arcane: League of Legends, the children’s cartoon The Cuphead Show, and the remarkably faithful Castlevania, as well as its spin-off, Castlevania: Nocturne. It’s a trend that’s not stopping any time soon, as Netflix’s animation department is also working on a gritty adaptation of the popular Devil May Cry franchise.
Does ‘Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft’ Have a Trailer?
Netflix dropped the first look at the long-in-development Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft during their Drop 1 presentation. It’s a brief teaser in every sense of the term, featuring only snippets of footage of this new take on the iconic character. Here we see the titular hero finding fantastical artifacts, reminiscing about old friends, and firing a bow and arrow. All simple teases, but ones that look very familiar for fans of the Tomb Raider franchise.
Who Stars in Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft?
Image via Marvel Studios
The latest superstar to portray Lara Croft is Hayley Atwell, best known for her role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Agent Peggy Carter. Atwell quickly became a fan favorite in the MCU for her portrayal of Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger, Doctor Strang in the Multiverse of Madness, and in the animated anthology series What If…? Atwell also recently joined the Mission: Impossible franchise with Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part 1.
Another actor who has been confirmed to be a part of the show’s cast is veteran video game voice actor Earl Baylon, who has been in the Tomb Raider franchise before. Baylon will be reprising his role as the character of Jonah, a close colleague of Lara who assists Lara on her adventures in the reboot trilogy beginning in 2013. Also attached to the cast is House Party star Allen Maldonado who will be voicing the role of Zip, who in Tomb Raider: Legend and Tomb Raider: Underworld, is essentially the Q to Croft’s James Bond by helping her with any technical dealings.
What Is ‘Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft’ About?
Image via Crystal Dynamics
While plot details have been rather slim, series writer and producer Tasha Huo has confirmed that the series will take place in a pre-existing continuity. According to Huo, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft will bridge the gap between the 2013 reboot trilogy and the adventures of Lara’s original trilogy. Presumably, this implies that the series will take place after the events of what is known as the Survive trilogy and prior to the start of the main series.
In 2013, the Tomb Raider franchise was rebooted with Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider, which functioned as a prequel and origin story for the character we all know and love. Instead of relying on the over-the-top action that we all know and love, this take on Lara Croft was very much a gritty survival tale, showing how Lara slowly went from a young aspiring archaeologist into a brave and charismatic treasure hunter. This hit reinvention of the series resulted in two sequels Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. With the news that Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft will take place in the same universe as that trilogy and will eventually connect to the remaining games in the franchise, it essentially creates one unifying timeline for the long-running franchise.
Who Is Making ‘Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft’?
Image via Warner Bros.
Writing Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is Tasha Huo, who previously wrote for The Witcher: Blood Origin, also on Netflix. Huo also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Red Sonja remake.
What Other Tomb Raider Projects Are in Development?
Image by Jefferson Chacon
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is just one of several projects centering on Lara Croft currently in development. Amazon announced in early 2023 that they are working on not one, but two Tomb Raider projects, hoping to build a cinematic universe around the IP. The first is a new series from Fleabag creator and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny star Phobe Waller-Bridge and the second is an all-new feature film, showing that we’ll be getting plenty more of Lara Croft in the near future.
This post was modified on 2023-10-03 19:51:41