Amazon isn’t just publishing the next big Tomb Raider video game. Today, the massive company confirmed the previously reported news that it is also making a live-action TV show based on the Tomb Raider games, and has tapped Phoebe Waller-Bridge to write it up.
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In January 2023, The Hollywood Reporter claimed to have learned that a Tomb Raider live-action show was being planned by Amazon. It was also reported that that show would be written by Fleabag creator and star Waller-Bridge. Turns out, that report was completely accurate.
On May 14, Amazon announced that it had picked up and ordered a full season of a new, upcoming Tomb Raider television show based on the hit games starring Lara Croft. The news was revealed during Amazon’s Upfront event in New York City on Tuesday. Amazon & MGM Studios head Jen Salke called it an “epic” series that will span the entire globe. Which makes sense. It would be weird if she said it was a boring show set entirely in like...Kansas or something.
“If I could tell my teenage self this was happening I think she’d explode,” said Waller-Bridge as reported by Deadline.
“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.”
No release date or window was given for the series. Amazon also didn’t reveal any story details or casting choices for the show.
This is just one of a few Tomb Raider projects in the works at the moment. Netflix is working on an animated Tomb Raider series, due out sometime later this year.
Amazon is also reportedly working on a movie that will tie into Waller-Bridge’s just-officially-announced series. It’s also reported that the upcoming Amazon-published Tomb Raider game—being made by longtime series developer Crystal Dynamics—will tie into the movie and show, too. The plan seems to be to create some kind of MCU-like universe.
After the success of Fallout on Amazon and The Last of Us on HBO, it seems reasonable that the company, and other streamers, would continue doubling down on video game adaptations. Still, I’m not sure I need a movie, a show, a cartoon and a new game all based on Tomb Raider in a short span of time, but we’ll see how it all comes together over the next few years.
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