Finally official: Amazon and Crystal Dynamics are officially taking their partnership to the next level. The e-commerce giant’s Prime Video division has ordered a Tomb Raider series that will be written and executive produced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Rumors of an Amazon Tomb Raider series with Waller-Bridge at the helm date back to early 2023, but now it’s official.
Amazon said the show will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories around the globe. It’ll be based on the iconic Tomb Raider franchise, and follow the adventures of renowned archeologist Lara Croft.
Amazon partnered with Crystal Dynamics in 2022 to help publish the next Tomb Raider game. The as-yet untitled game is described as a single-player, narrative-drive action-adventure that’ll serve as the next chapter in the legendary franchise. It’ll be available across multiple platforms, be built using Unreal Engine 5, and implement several familiar series elements including puzzles and creative pathfinding.
Netflix, meanwhile, is still working on an animated Tomb Raider spin-off. Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft was announced in 2021, and will pick up after the events of the trilogy reboot. A first look trailer dropped in late 2023 but we still don’t have a firm premiere date outside of “coming soon.”
Tomb Raider debuted in 1996 from developer Core Design and publisher Eidos Interactive, and was a groundbreaking game for the time with innovative 3D graphics, controls, and gameplay that were unlike anything up to that point. It went on to become one of the top-selling games on the original PlayStation with over seven million copies sold.
Protagonist Lara Croft has since been featured in numerous sequels and is one of gaming’s most recognizable characters, right up there with the likes of Mario and Sonic. In 2018, Tomb Raider was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
No word yet on who will play Croft in the new series, but you can be sure Amazon will do its best to find an ideal fit.
Image credit: Ruslan66
