Tomb Raider star Sophie Turner says she's "playing the games" and "reading the comics" to prepare for the new Lara Croft show, but she's avoiding the movies: "I've gotta create my own thing"

Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

Sophie Turner is doing her research to play Lara Croft in Prime Video's upcoming Tomb Raider TV show, but she recently revealed she is avoiding watching the previous on-screen versions of the iconic character.

"I'm playing the games, I'm reading the comics. I've got the Colossal Collections, which are 500 pages. I'm kind of doing all of it, but not really focusing on the previous iterations, because I don't want to imitate, I've gotta create my own thing. So, as much as I love those movies, I can't watch them right now," she told SiriusXM.

The movies Turner is avoiding (for now) include Angelina Jolie's two installments from the early 2000s (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life), and Alicia Vikander's 2018 reboot (simply titled Tomb Raider). The popular game was also adapted into an animated series on Netflix, titled Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, running for two seasons with Marvel star Hayley Atwell playing the titular archaeologist.

Reading and playing games are not the only things Turner is doing to prepare for the show. With a story surely packed with action scenes, the actor has also been working out in the gym. "I can't say much, but my preparation began in February. I've been training for a long time now, coming up on a year, and we're going to start shooting," she said earlier this week, teasing that filming might start in the coming weeks.