What we know about the new Tomb Raider TV series

She befriended a young Han Solo, updated James Bond’s humour and helped Indiana Jones find the Dial of Destiny and now Phoebe Waller-Bridge is turning her attention to a ’90s video game icon by revamping Tomb Raider for the small screen.

Amazon has officially green-lit an as-yet-untitled Tomb Raider adventure series from the Fleabag creator, who will act as a writer and executive producer on the series.

The last we saw of this hugely popular PlayStation heroine she was played by Alicia Vikander in director Roar Uthaug’s 2018 movie reboot.

With a long-rumoured Vikander-led sequel scrapped, screenwriter and actor Waller-Bridge will pick up the character’s iconic handguns and crypt-cracking wits for a new serialised outing. How will it be different to what we’ve seen before?

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Read on to learn everything we know about Amazon’s Tomb Raider TV show so far, including its plot, cast, release date and more.

When will the Tomb Raider TV series be released?

Waller-Bridge’s Tomb Raider series was green-lit by Prime Video in May 2024, as part of the Fleabag star’s wider deal with Amazon.

However, the streaming service has yet to announce a release date, so we may be waiting a while before Lara Croft returns to screens. If only we had a cheat code that sped up time.

In a statement, the Waller-Bridge said: “If I could tell my teenage self this was happening I think she’d explode. 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.”

The news comes off the back on the unprecedented success of Amazon’s Fallout series, another video game adaptation.

The show was first being teased in January 2023, shortly before Waller-Bridge embarked on her own big-screen adventure alongside Harrison Ford’s tenured archaeologist Indiana Jones in The Dial of Destiny.

What is the plot of the Tomb Raider TV series?

As mentioned above, the Tomb Raider TV series is still being written, with the powers that be keeping any and all details about it buried deeper than an ancient artefact.

That said, whilst doing the rounds for her co-starring role in Dial of Destiny, Waller-Bridge shed some light on what audiences can expect from the upcoming series.

With the star’s previous experience working on three of cinema’s biggest adventure icons — Han Solo, James Bond and Indiana Jones — it looks like moving on to the gun-totting Lara Croft was a natural progression. Plus, she’s a die-hard fan of the franchise.

“Having worked on Bond and having worked as an actor on Indy, I feel like I’ve been building up to this,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “My parents were very smart because they didn’t actually limit me,” she remembers.

“They could sense that I was going to just game myself into the ground, and I did. I packed the PlayStation away, and I was like, ‘I’ve got to not do that because I’ve got to write and read and do other stuff’.”

During the pandemic, Waller-Bridge took the opportunity to re-familiarise herself with Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise. It was an experience that hit home the importance and opportunity of being able to recraft an iconic female adventurer. “God, it literally felt like that teenager in me saying: do right by her, do right by Lara!” she told the outlet.

“What if I could take the reins on an action franchise, with everything I’ve learned, with a character I adore, and also just bring back some of that ’90s vibe?” she suggested. “It’s such a wonderful feeling to think you know what to do.”

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While this detail sets up a faithful but different take, Waller-Bridge was careful not to divulge any further details of what kind of quest she hopes to send Croft on next. However, she did tease that it’ll be “dangerous and exciting.”

Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, promised “exhilarating adventures that honour the legacy of this iconic character” when the show was announced.

Who will star in the Tomb Raider TV series?

Just as there’s no concrete plot or release date information surrounding the Tomb Raider TV series, there’s no solid casting news — or even rumours — yet either. Amazon said it would begin a “worldwide casting search” for the new Croft soon though.

Oscar winner Vikander was the last actor to tackle the wiley, British archaeologist who spends her downtime venturing into some of the most dangerous tombs and crypts the world has to offer and getting out of her fair share of dangerous scrapes.

Released in 2018, Vikander’s version was more gritty, rough-and-ready and realistic than previous big-screen iterations of the character and saw her trying to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance.

Video game depictions aside, perhaps the most memorable image of Croft is the version presented by Jolie who starred in two high-octane movies directed by two well-known action directors in the early noughties.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was released in 2001 and helmed by Con Air’s Simon West, while its follow-up Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life hit screens in 2003 and was directed by Speed’s Jan De Bont.

As for who the next Tomb Raider might be? Well, we do know that Waller-Bridge is only writing the series and has no plans to front it, so we’ll have to be patient before we meet our new Lara Croft.

Tomb Raider is coming soon to Prime Video.