‘Tomb Raider’ Universe In Development For Amazon Studios By Phoebe Waller-Bridge
It seems that Phoebe Waller-Bridge rather enjoyed her time working with one adventuring archaeologist some much, she is now developing one starring the “other” famous antiquities acquirer… Reports over the weekend suggest the actress/writer/producer is working on building a ‘Tomb Raider’ multi-platform universe for Amazon Studios.
Waller-Bridge, who next stars opposite Harrison Ford in the upcoming movie ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’, is set to helm a series of projects which would follow Lara Croft in new adventures that would span across tv, film and video games, based on the popular IP. The ‘Fleabag’ and ‘Killing Eve’ creator is reportedly not starring, but writing and exec producing a tv show for Amazon Studios, and would also be involved in a potential new movie as well. Amazon Games and Crystal Dynamics announced a few weeks ago that a new single-player, narrative-driven game was also in the works, and the plan appears to be to keep everything within a connected universe.
Joining Waller-Bridge on the project would be Amazon’s former head of comedy and drama, Ryan Andolina, and former head of overall deals, Amanda Greenblatt, who launched their own production company under a deal with Amazon. Waller-Bridge is also renewed her overall deal with Amazon which she recently renewed. Dmitri M. Johnson (‘Sonic the Hedgehog’) and his dj2 Entertainment company, who secured the screen rights to the IP, and are behind the upcoming anime ‘Tomb Raider’ series for Netflix, would also exec produce.
This marks the latest in a string of high-end, universe-spanning, projects using existing IP from Amazon. As we reported a few weeks ago, Henry Cavill is set to helm a Warhammer 40k universe for the streamer, and there is, of course, ‘The Rings Of Power’ based in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. On the gaming side, they also have a ‘Fallout’ series incoming, exec produced by ‘Westworld’s Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy.
It’s still early days on this project, so there is no casting yet, but they would likely be looking for a new face to fill the role of Lara Croft. Whoever gets that part would be in good company, following Shelley Blond, Judith Gibbins, Jonell Elliott, Keeley Hawes, Camilla Luddington, and Abigail Stahlschmidt, who voiced the character in the video games, along with Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander who played Lara in various movies. Keeley Hawes is set to reprise the role for the aforementioned Netflix anime series.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is very much in demand at the moment, both on-screen and behind the camera. Along with the upcoming ‘Indy’ movie, she also is appearing in John Krasinski’s film ‘Imaginary Friends’, working as a judge on screenwriting competition series ‘Screenshot’, and has another project in the works with Amazon Studios.
The ‘Tomb Raider’ tv series has not been officially confirmed by Amazon, so is still classed as “in development”, but we’ll let you know if and when we hear more.
