Amazon has announced an Tomb Raider TV series, but development on the project has been quite slow. Debuting back in 1996 on the Sega Saturn and PlayStation, the Tomb Raider video game series follows archaeologist Lara Croft as she uses her expertise to discover lost artifacts and explore dangerous lost tombs around the globe. The popular video game series spawned a wealth of sequels, and Croft herself has become an icon among video game mascots.

It didn't take long before Tomb Raider made the jump to other forms of media, and a feature film was produced in 2001 starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft. A successful sequel followed in 2003, but Jolie's departure from the role put the big-screen franchise on ice for over a decade. Finally, in 2018, Tomb Raider premiered as a reboot of the series and swapped Jolie for Alicia Vikander. A planned sequel to the 2018 film fell through, and the Tomb Raider film and TV franchise sat dormant until the announcement of an TV series that will exist in a shared universe with Amazon's new film.

The Tomb Raider TV Show Latest News

A Concerning Update Regarding The Show's Development

As a series of creative shakeups happen behind-the-scenes at Amazon MGM, the latest news comes in the form of a concerning update regarding the Tomb Raider show. As former Amazon creative head Jennifer Salke departs, Puck has come forward with a damning report about the development of Tomb Raider. According to the report, Phoebe Waller-Bridge has not delivered anything in the six years since she's been attached to the project, and that Salke chose to renew Waller-Bridge's contract despite three years of no movement.

With Salke no longer at Amazon MGM, the fate of Tomb Raider is currently unclear.

The report continues by saying that Tomb Raider "has now gone through two writers rooms and tens of millions of dollars in development costs" since it was picked up in May 2024. How exactly a project fails to move at all in that span of time is unknown, and it certainly puts the show's future in jeopardy. With Salke no longer at Amazon MGM, the fate of Tomb Raider is currently unclear.

Read the full quote regarding Tomb Raider's development below:

Still, my favorite Salke move was giving Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the breakout creator of Fleabag, a $20 million-a-year overall deal in 2019. Sure, the TV business is littered with failed overalls, but when Waller-Bridge generated nothing in three years, Salke renewed the deal. Now, three years after that renewal, she still has nothing to show for it. Tomb Raider, which Waller-Bridge has been working on and which Salke was personally overseeing after announcing a series pickup last May, has now gone through two writers rooms and tens of millions of dollars in development costs. There’s still no script.

The Tomb Raider TV Show Is In Development

The Project Has Been In The Works For Years

Amazon is also producing a Tomb Raider reboot film which will exist in the same timeline as the show.

Besides confirming that the Tomb Raider show was happening, Amazon got even more ambitious when they announced a larger Tomb Raider universe. Not only will the Phoebe Waller-Bridge series bring Lara Croft back to the small screen, but Amazon is also producing a Tomb Raider reboot film which will exist in the same timeline as the show. Though details about how the two connect are still unknown, the plan is an exciting use of the popular intellectual property.

Amazon's ambitious plan for Tomb Raider may already be in jeopardy as new reports have surfaced (in March 2025) that indicate no movement has happened on the series in years. The exit of Amazon creative head Jennifer Salke has unleashed a bevy of information about how Amazon MGM has been run behind-the-scenes, and it doesn't look good for Tomb Raider. Not only has Waller-Bridge failed to deliver anything for Tomb Raider in six years, but millions of dollars in development costs have been sunk into the project through various writer's rooms.

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is an animated series released by Netflix in October 2024.

The Tomb Raider film and TV franchise includes:

The Tomb Raider TV Show Cast Details

Lara Croft Has Been Cast

Though the entire cast hasn't been assembled yet, the Amazon Tomb Raider TV show has found its Lara Croft. Opting for an actor with a lot of franchise experience, Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) has been tapped to play Lara Croft in the new series. No stranger to action/adventure stories, Turner also played the role of superhero Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film franchise. Turner's starpower suggests the ensemble will be filled with recognizable names, but no one else has been cast yet.

The Tomb Raider TV Show Story Details

Will The Series Adapt The Games?

Even though no plot has been released for the Tomb Raider TV series, viewers can expect plenty of pulse-pounding action. Croft is known for wielding her dual pistols, and she will likely face dangers that stretch far beyond the pitfalls and booby traps of a few dusty old tombs. Also, with Waller-Bridge involved, a fair amount of humor can be expected to pepper the dialogue as well.

Though it hasn't been confirmed, the series could tackle the plots of some of the classic video games, and that could help endear it to long-time fans of the franchise. While the older games were much simpler, the newer games feature plenty of exciting mysteries that the Tomb Raider show could explore. Even if the series wanted to concoct an entirely new story, the Tomb Raider show would benefit from taking a page or two from its source material.