Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft showrunner Tasha Huo, who also was a staff writer on the abysmal The Witcher: Blood Origin series at Netflix, recently shared what viewers can expect from the upcoming Netflix animated series.
Lara Croft jumps into a pit in Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft (2024), Netflix
Speaking with Variety as part of a 10 screenwriters to watch article, Huo shared, “Lara Croft doesn’t just go to a new temple each week but goes through a character-driven emotional story, and that excited me the most.”
Other than Huo’s short teaser to Variety, Netflix has not released a ton of information about the series.
A scene from Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft (2024), Netflix
However, what we do know is that the series is set after the most recent video game reboot trilogy that began with Tomb Raider in 2013 and concluded with Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 2018.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Aaron Couch noted back in 2021, “Tomb Raider picks up after the events of Square Enix’s Tomb Raider video game reboot trilogy, which was released in installments from 2013-18 and was developed by Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montréal.”
The series is not connected to the 2018 film starring Alicia Vikander.
A scene from Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft (2024), Netflix
Huo provided more details back in October 2021 stating, “The team at Crystal Dynamics is hard at work unifying the timelines of Tomb Raider and we are so excited to be a part of that effort.
She later added, “I always wondered how Lara Croft became such an epic and brilliant hero. She’s so cool, so calm under pressure, also pretty witty. So to that end, the Tomb Raider anime series from Legendary Television and Netflix will provide fans like you and me around the world with some of the first steps towards unifying the Tomb Raider timelines as we transition beyond the Survivor trilogy and start to follow Lara’s journey leading up to the first steps of that first Tomb Raider game.”
Huo added, “Now, part of that awesome task is about bringing together pieces from the different Tomb Raider eras including some of Lara’s friends and allies. That is why I am so thrilled to introduce you to two additional actors who will be joining us on this wild ride: Earl Baylon, who will be reprising his role as Jonah Maiava from the Survivor trilogy, and Allen Maldonado, who will be voicing the character of Zip from Tomb Raider Chronicles, Legend, and Underworld.”
She concluded, “Trust me when I say this is an exciting road ahead of us and I cannot wait for you to join us!”
Along with Baylon and Maiava, Hayley Atwell was cast to voice Lara Croft.
A scene from Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft (2024), Netflix
Netflix did release a first look at the series at the end of September with a brief description stating, “A new, Netflix original series featuring the iconic rise of Lara Croft is officially in development.”
The series is already facing criticism from die hard fans. One such fan, YouTuber Melonie Mac shared her opinion on the character design saying, “She’s almost butch lesbian at this point. … They’re missing the mark in more ways than one. And the course correcting is not working.”
She elaborated, “They completely lost sight of the feminine tomboy balance of classic Lara Croft and went full generic lesbian design. … She just looks like a generic lesbian character design with her outfit and her body type. Everything like that just completely removing any curves that she should have. I mean she’s Lara Croft. She just doesn’t have a feminine frame at all.”
What do you make of Huo’s comments about incorporating an emotional arc into Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft?
