Posted in: Amazon Studios, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: amazon, Lara Croft, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, prime video, Tomb raider

Amazon Exec Defends Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Tomb Raider Commitment

Vernon Sanders, Head of Television, Amazon Studios, defended Phoebe Waller-Bridge's commitment to Tomb Raider, updating the series project.

Not long after the new year started, fans of the popular video game franchise Tomb Raider were hit with the good news that a live-action series adaptation was in the works from Amazon's Prime Video, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) reportedly set to pen the streaming series (though Waller-Bridge isn't planning on starring in the project). Still in its developmental stage, the series was part of Waller-Bridge's renewed overall deal with Amazon, with Waller-Bridge executive producing the Amazon Studios series alongside Ryan Andolina and Amanda Greenblatt. A little more than two months later, Vernon Sanders, Head of Television at Amazon Studios, is pushing back on claims that Waller-Bridge is distancing herself from the project.

In a profile of Amazon Studios & the Prime Video streaming service posted today by The Hollywood Reporter, some have criticized the streamer for not having a "show identity," creating confusion within the creative community when it comes to knowing what Amazon is looking for. At one point in the report, a timeline of Waller-Bridge's deal with Amazon was addressed. Originally signed in 2019, the three-year, $20 million deal kicked off on a promising note, with the Emmy & BAFTA awards-winner set to join Donald Glover (Atlanta, Community) on a series take on the 2005 Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie-starring film, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. A few months later, Waller-Bridge would depart the project over a difference in creative approaches, with Glover moving forward on the series. Meanwhile, Waller-Bridge would renew her deal, eventually being announced for the Tomb Raider series.

But the THR report has sources questioning just how much involvement she will have on the project, citing the studios' search for a showrunner to oversee & assist with the writing as a reason for concern (Waller-Bridge did not comment on THR's reporting). "Phoebe [Waller-Bridge] has not only fully embraced 'Tomb Raider,' and I think is feeling very committed to it, but she's in a writers' room right now working on it," Sanders responded when asked about the rumblings, adding that she's also working on additional projects aside from "Tomb Raider." "She's a perfectionist, so she absolutely wants to make sure that what she does is great and right, but she's proven that when she does deliver, she delivers."

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