Lara Croft is back. Netflix has announced that the archaeologist-turned-pistol-toting video game icon is set to be voiced by Marvel’s Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger) in its upcoming anime series.
Curiously, this isn’t a clean slate for Lara. The series is described as "picking up after the events of the highly successful Tomb Raider video-game reboot trilogy." No other story details or cast news has been announced.
The Crystal Dynamics-developed 2013 reboot crafted a more naïve, grittier Lara Croft for a new generation. It’s something that also inspired the live-action Tomb Raider movie in 2018 – and it’s clearly a well the franchise wants to go to once more.
Atwell is the latest in a long line of actors who have portrayed Lara Croft across the past quarter-of-a-century. In the live-action sphere, the treasure hunter has been played by Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander. In the video games, the character has been voiced by Shelley Blond in the 1996 original, before Judith Gibbons and Jonell Elliot picked up the baton up to the mid-00s.
From there (and perhaps most famously), Keeley Hawes took over for a trilogy of games beginning from Legend and running to Tomb Raider: Underworld. Camilla Luddington portrayed the character in the rebooted trilogy from 2013 onwards.
Netflix is set to be very busy in bringing video game adaptations to the streamer. Tomb Raider apart, the streaming service has a Sonic series, Assassin’s Creed series, The Cuphead Show, and multiple Ubisoft projects are all in the works across the next few years. There’s even a movie based on The Division franchise on the way. Phew.
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