Sophie Turner will take on the role of Lara Croft in Phoebe Waller-Bridge's new Tomb Raider series. According to Deadline, the Game of Thrones actor is in negotiations to take on the lead in the Amazon series based on the hit gaming franchise. It had been reported last month that Turner was competing against Bohemian Rhapsody's Lucy Boynton for the role. The live-action series is a major priority for Amazon and would mark the first project that Waller-Bridge has embarked upon since signing up with the company back in 2019. The deal is worth a reported 20m a year.

In 1979, when Steven Spielberg and George Lucas signed with Paramount Pictures to develop a film series based on classic Hollywood adventure serials, the deal they struck was to make five separate movies. The first, Raiders of the Lost Ark, was released in the summer of 1981 and became that year's top-grossing movie, beating even the long-anticipated Superman II and remaining on screens in some cities for more than a year. By 1984, it was Raiders' sequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, that had become the year's most anticipated movie, banking that year's biggest opening weekend, and the third entry in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, became not only the highest-grossing movie of 1989 but the top-earning Indiana Jones movie yet. Given that track record, and viewed from the perspective of our own IP-crazed times, it seems inconceivable that Spielberg and Lucas decided not to move forward immediately with a fourth Indiana Jones picture (though Lucas did go on to produce a spinoff TV series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles). Lucas' idea, a riff on the 1950s sci-fi films that would have been contemporaneous with a middle-aged Indy, was to introduce extraterrestrial beings into the previously earthbound Raiders universe.

Hollywood may be taking another stab at a Tomb Raider production, but this time for the small screen. The Hollywood Reporter sources say Amazon is creating a Tomb Raider TV series for Prime Video, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge (of Fleabag fame) set to be an executive producer and write the script. It's not certain who would star, but we wouldn't count on movie stars Angelina Jolie or Alicia Vikander reprising the role of Lara Croft. The show is reportedly still in the development stage. We've asked Amazon for comment.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is reportedly set to write a new take on Tomb Raider for Amazon. According to the Hollywood Reporter, sources claim the Emmy-winning star and creator of Fleabag is developing a new TV series based on the popular game, writing scripts and executive producing. Amazon is yet to confirm the news. The character of Lara Croft, an archaeological adventurer, has previously been brought to the big screen by Angelina Jolie in two films and more recently, Alicia Vikander in 2018. After that film underperformed, a planned sequel was cancelled and in 2022, MGM lost their rights to the franchise.