Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: Lara Croft, Tomb raider

Tomb Raider: Waller-Bridge "Well Into" Work on Lara Croft Series

Amazon MGM Studios' Jennifer Salke shared an update on how things look with Phoebe Waller-Bridge's live-action Tomb Raider/Lara Croft series.

It's been close to three months since we last checked in on how things were looking with the upcoming live-action take on archaeologist and adventurer Lara Croft. Back in January 2023, we learned that Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) was writing & executive-producing a series based on the popular "Tomb Raider" video game franchise – stemming from Crystal Dynamics and Amazon MGM Studios. Earlier this summer, Amazon's Vernon Sanders, Head of TV, offered a promising update – including talk of the "global-wide search" for Lara Croft starting "sooner rather than later." Speaking with Variety for an interview that went live earlier today, Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, checked in to let everyone know how things are looking – and why Amazon's deal with Waller-Bridge was important for them to lock down.

"'Tomb Raider' is really exciting and Phoebe [Waller-Bridge] is well into it and working in close partnership with ['Tomb Raider' general manager] Dallas Dickinson and the game producers – and it's going to be very exciting. But I don't have any [additional updates]." As for the deal between Amazon and Waller-Bridge (reportedly $60 million), Salke sees it as being important in helping establish a "long-term commitment" with an artist such as Waller-Bridge – especially when they're leading what could be a major franchise for the studios and streamer. "When we look at a long-term commitment to a creator like Phoebe — we're so happy now that we retained her because she's obsessed with and grew up playing Lara Croft/'Tomb Raider.' So the fact that she's the creator and bringing this character to life, we think it's going to be a huge franchise for us."

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Talks Tomb Raider

In a June 2023 profile interview with Vanity Fair, Waller-Bridge discussed her life-long connection with the video game franchise, her understanding of the responsibility that comes with bringing Lara Croft to life, and how the franchise is ripe for a "dangerous and exciting" take.

Waller-Bridge on Finding "Really Quite Dangerous" Take Fans Will Connect With: "There's room to do something really quite dangerous. And if I can do something dangerous and exciting with Tomb Raider, I already have an audience of people who love Lara and hopefully will continue to. And that is a very unusual position to be in. It's the old Trojan horse."

Waller-Bridge on Her Parents Letting Her Lara Croft Flag Fly: "My parents were very smart because they didn't actually limit me [playing Tomb Raider]. 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.' "

Waller-Bridge on Revisiting "Tomb Raider" During COVID-19 Pandemic: "God, it literally felt like that teenager in me saying: do right by her, do right by Lara!" The opportunity to have, as we were talking earlier, a female action character…. Having worked on Bond and having worked as an actor on 'Indy,' I feel like I've been building up to this."

Waller-Bridge on Her "Big Roaring Instincts" Now In Play: "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?" Waller-Bridge shared – before adding, "It's such a wonderful feeling to think you know what to do [with a project like Tomb Raider]"

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