Last summer, we learned MGM had lost the rights to the Tomb Raider franchise. That led to a bidding war for the IP which was ultimately won by Amazon Prime Video.
As well as a TV series from Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny star and No Time to Die scribe Phoebe Waller-Bridge, a movie and at least one video game (announced last December, but thought to be the first of many) are all expected to be part of a connected Tomb Raider world.
The plan is to create an MCU-style franchise, and it's clearly a property Amazon is taking seriously. We're assuming the same actress would play Lara Croft across all three projects, though very little about the streamer's plans has been revealed since the news first broke.
What we do know is Alicia Vikander won't reprise the role.
A sequel to 2018's Tomb Raider was in the works but reportedly fell apart following clashes between the actress and the sequel's director Misha Green. The actress has now broken her silence, admitting in an interview with Variety that she's disappointed her time as Lara Croft has reached its end.
"I mean, I thought we were very much [good to go]; we had a director and writer," she tells the trade. "But yeah, for me, that was another one of those childhood dreams - to portray an action character was awesome, and beyond what I ever thought I would do. And I think the physical part is something that I really enjoyed."
"So, yeah, if another opportunity like that came again, I’ll be interested."
Based on the hit video game series, Lara Croft was brought back to the big screen with the aforementioned reboot which earned only $275 million at the worldwide box office. However, it was met with so-so reviews. The two movies starring Angelina Jolie, on the other hand, while similarly underwhelming, made a combined total of $432 million.
As of right now, there's no word on who will play Lara Croft in this live-action reboot. In the games, Camilla Luddington, Keeley Hawes, and Minnie Driver have all lent their voices to the iconic character, as did Hayley Atwell in an anime series on Netflix.
Stay tuned for updates.