Tomb Raider’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge Is Ready to Lean Into Reboot Culture
BY
LEE FREITAG
PUBLISHED 2 DAYS AGO
Phoebe Waller-Bridge explains why she isn't worried about writing Amazon and dj2 Entertainment's upcoming Tomb Raider reboot series.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge recently shared that she is not afraid of her upcoming
Tomb Raider series leaning into reboot culture.
"I feel like when you’re working in the industry, you’ve got to ride the waves and lean in," remarked Waller-Bridge to
Vanity Fair after being asked if she was hesitant to participate in Hollywood's obsession with remakes and reboots. "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 was announced to be writing a
Tomb Raider series for Amazon in January 2023. The project will be part of a
new Tomb Raider universe Amazon is developing with Dmitri M. Johnson's dj2 Entertainment that also includes a reboot of the live-action films and a video game developed by Crystal Dynamics -- who was also behind the critically-acclaimed
Tomb Raider video game reboot trilogy. Betty White was reportedly set to play the role of Ana Miller before her unfortunate passing, now the production team has reached out to Anna Paquin, who has expressed interest in the role. The three projects will exist alongside an upcoming
Tomb Raider anime series that was picked up by Netflix in 2021 and has Hayley Atwell (
Captain America's Peggy Carter) voicing Lara Croft.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge Promises to Do Right by Lara Croft
Waller-Bridge, who stars in the forthcoming
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and did some script work on Daniel Craig's final James Bond film,
No Time to Die, also opened up about how she felt to be approached by Amazon to
write the Tomb Raider series. "God, it literally felt like that teenager in me saying: Do right by her, do right by Lara!" recalled Waller-Bridge. "I feel like I’ve been building up to this. 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?" She added, "And it’s such a wonderful feeling to think you know what to do."
Before Amazon and dj2 Entertainment announced plans for a
Tomb Raider Universe, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was developing a sequel to the film,
Tomb Raider. Alicia Vikander was set to reprise her role from the 2018 reboot as Lara Croft, with Misha Green attached to write and direct. However, the sequel -- rumored to be titled
Tomb Raider: Obsidian -- was scrapped after multiple delays brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. MGM subsequently lost the film rights to the property, which led to Amazon swooping in and claiming the franchise as its own.
At this time, Waller-Bridge's
Tomb Raider series does not have a release date, but will stream exclusively on Amazon's Prime Video.
Source:
Vanity Fair
