Amazon’s Tomb Raider Series Finally Set to Start Filming Next Year
There was a lot of excitement around the news that Amazon had bought the rights to Tomb Raider, with plans to completely reboot the franchise and turn it into its own cinematic universe. Since the announcement a few years ago, however, developments have been slow.
Finally, there has been some positive news about Amazon’s Tomb Raider series. It looks set to begin filming in 2026, and this could lead to other spinoffs, movies, and new games in the franchise as well.
Yet Another Reboot of One of the World’s Greatest Franchises
The Tomb Raider franchise has been going strong since the first game was released in 1996, and there have been more than 20 games since then across different platforms. The series managed to reach a wider audience by branching out from console and onto other devices, and this inspired other studios to do the same.
Tomb Raider has often been forward-thinking in this regard, breaking out into the mobile market with Lara Croft: Relic Run and Lara Croft Go in 2015. There have also been numerous slot games, such as Lara Croft: Temples and Tombs. The latter is a huge draw for online casinos still, and can be used in conjunction with a deposit match casino welcome bonus that gives players free money to use on any game.
Tomb Raider was one of the first successful video game-to-film adaptations, when Angelina Jolie first took on the iconic role in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001. This led to a sequel in 2003, with both films bringing in a total of more than $500 million at the box office. The film series was recently rebooted with Alicia Vikander in the lead role in 2018, but MGM never followed that up as its rights to the film expired.
Now Amazon has the rights, and will reboot it yet again.
Sophie Turner Set to Take on the Role
Amazon picked up Tomb Raider for a reported $600 million, and the studio clearly has grand plans for the franchise. It has spent a long time ensuring that it has the right actor to play the iconic role, and has settled on Sophie Turner. Turner first rose to prominence as Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, and this led to various Hollywood film roles, such as in the X-Men series. She appears to be a solid choice to play the character.
It has also been confirmed that the first offering from Amazon will be a series, with filming set to start next year. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is heavily involved with the project as executive producer and writer, and Chad Hodge has joined her as the co-showrunner. Beginning with a series could be a stroke of genius, as it will afford the creators more chance to flesh out the universe and all the characters before expanding into potential spinoffs.
It’s great that there’s finally some positive news about Amazon’s Tomb Raider. With filming beginning in 2026, it seems like a 2027 release date is most likely. Then, this could snowball and lead to other additions to the franchise in the years that follow.