Tomb Raider Is Officially Switching Formats Soon

The Tomb Raider franchise has continued to expand since its 1996 debut, and now it’s switching to an exciting new format. Lara Croft, the adventurer and treasure hunter, is one of the most iconic video game characters of all time, so it’s no surprise that creatives continue to reimagine her character in different media, including movies, TV shows, comics, web series, and video games.

The story has been adapted into a live-action movie twice. The first time Angelina Jolie played the character in an early 2000s duology. Unfortunately, this version of the character abandoned the games, using the comics as source material. The second time, Alicia Vikander played Lara Croft. Despite a strong performance from Vikander, the movie was mediocre. More recently, Tomb Raider became an animated TV show. The first season was good, but a little shaky and uneven. The second season was worlds better than season 1, and it’s probably the best non-video game iteration.

However, there still hasn’t been a definitive onscreen adaptation of Tomb Raider. Luckily, a new contender is coming soon, and it will go somewhere the franchise has never been before. Prime Video is adapting the story as a live-action TV show, and it’s already in production.

Why A Live-Action Tomb Raider TV Show Is The Right Way To Go

Image via Prime Video

With a franchise as vast as Tomb Raider, a live-action TV show feels like the ideal format because it offers the visual appeal and narrative opportunities not available in the existing formats. As a big fan of the Tomb Raider video games, I excitedly watched all the movies and the Netflix TV show. The live-action movie format was thrilling, but the stories didn’t have time to breathe or develop. The animated TV format allowed for better storytelling and character development, but the animation wasn’t as visually appealing.

The live-action TV show could be the best of both worlds. As long as they overload the show with bad CGI, the visuals will be more engaging in live action. The exceptions are extremely high-budget animated shows like Arcane. Meanwhile, TV shows offer opportunities for deeper character arcs, richer lore development, and compelling adventures.

Other than the fact that we haven’t had a live-action Tomb Raider TV show, there are many reasons to get pumped about the adaptation. The creator and co-showrunner, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, revealed to Variety that she is a big fan of the franchise and that everyone else involved loves Lara Croft, too. Additionally, the cast is absolutely stacked with talented actors. She’s working alongside EP and co-showrunner Chad Hodge, and Shogun‘s Jonathan van Tulleken as director and EP. Sophie Turner, of Game of Thrones fame, will play Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider TV show. Additionally, Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, and Bill Paterson are just a few recognizable actors appearing in the project.

chronicles of the tomb raider book image

As it stands right now, the Tomb Raider games have three major universes: the classic era (1996-2003), the LAU era (2006-2008), and the Survivor era (2013-2018). However, the live-action series is the foundation on which a unified universe will be built, according to The Hollywood Reporter. To be clear, the past media isn’t all being combined in this universe. Instead, the Tomb Raider TV show is the start of a new universe. The unified universe, which is being compared to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will include the future TV show, video games, and movies. THR also wrote that this is their biggest deal since The Lord of the Rings.

While only one season has been confirmed so far, Sophie Turner has already made comments about the Tomb Raider TV show that suggest she will continue to play the character for a long time. As of the time of writing, there’s no information about connected movies yet, other than the fact that there will be some. However, at least one confirmed video game will tie into the TV show, per the THR article announcing the shared universe. Hopefully, they’ll learn from the MCU’s mistakes and avoid overloading fans with media to the point of burnout.

Looking at their plans for Tomb Raider, this could truly be the start of something great. Ultimately, the success falls back on the quality and creative choices of the TV show, though, which serves as the backbone. The good news is that we have less than a year to go, if they stay on track for an early 2027 release date.