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.
"I'm really excited, but I feel prepped, and I feel really lucky to have such a great relationship with Amazon, and I'm excited for the world to see what we do with Lara and Tomb Raider. I think it's going to be something special," she added.
Most details about the show are still under wraps, but we have some exciting updates about the cast. After announcing Sigourney Weaver as original character Evelyn Wallis, Amazon revealed 10 new cast members, including House of the Dragon's Bill Paterson as butler Winston, Free Rein's Martin Bobb-Semple as tech guy Zip, and Jason Isaacs as Lara's uncle Atlas de Mornay.
While we wait for more news on the Tomb Raider TV series, check out our guides to the most exciting upcoming TV shows and upcoming video game movies.
