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.
“When we look at a long-term commitment to a creator like Phoebe – we’re so happy now that we retained her because she’s obsessed with and grew up playing Lara Croft/Tomb Raider,” Amazon’s Jennifer Salke said last month. “So the fact that she’s the creator and bringing this character to life, we think it’s going to be a huge franchise for us.”
Waller-Bridge will act as writer and executive producer on the series. Since creating and starring in two seasons of the award-winning dark comedy Fleabag, she has also appeared in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and co-written No Time to Die, Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond.
“The opportunity to have … a female action character … Having worked on Bond and having worked as an actor on Indy, I feel like I’ve been building up to this,” she said to Vanity Fair in 2023. “What if I could take the reins on an action franchise, with everything I’ve learned, with a character I adore, and also just bring back some of that 90s vibe?”
She also said she intended to do “something dangerous and exciting” with the project.
The role of the archaeologist adventurer has previously been played by Angelina Jolie in two films and Alicia Vikander in another. Hayley Atwell also voiced the character in a recent animated series on Netflix.
Turner, who played Sansa Stark in the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, has since appeared in the X-Men movies as Jean Grey and appeared alongside Colin Firth in the crime drama The Staircase. She recently starred in ITV’s fact-based drama series Joan and will next be seen in the heist thriller Haven.