Phoebe Waller-Bridge To Write Tomb Raider TV Series At Amazon
From the fourth wall-breaking humor of "Fleabag" to the world of James Bond in "No Time to Die" to teaming up with the most famous archaeologist of them all in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," it's clear that Hollywood is Phoebe Waller-Bridge's world and everyone else is simply living in it. Now, it appears as if the highly in-demand and multifaceted star is about to add another exciting property to her ledger.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor/writer/producer extraordinaire is prepping a new "Tomb Raider" television series based on the popular and profitable series of video games starring the legendary treasure-hunting character, Lara Croft. With the report describing this new series as "in the development stages," we appear to be some way off from any more concrete details regarding the project. For those holding out hope that Waller-Bridge would actually star as Lara Croft in addition to writing, THR splashes a bucketful of cold water on that immensely fun possibility with one heck of a buzzkill: "Waller-Bridge does not plan to star in the TV adaptation of the property."
Nevertheless, the series is coming together under Amazon Studios, a result of Waller-Bridge's overall deal with the streaming giant. She will reportedly executive produce alongside her writing duties, which will presumably give her quite a bit of creative freedom over the creative direction of this series.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is in her explorer era
Phoebe Waller-Bridge clearly has the writing ability and the dusty, exploratory look to pull off anything that a "Tomb Raider" series may require of the multihyphenate talent. Unfortunately, fans will have to content themselves with her remarkably confident presence behind the scenes as opposed to in front of the camera. Luckily, that's hardly anything to sniff at, to say the absolute least.
The THR report should provide a welcome dose of good news to video game fans who were either disappointed by the 2018 reboot starring Alicia Vikander or by the subsequent news that her film wouldn't receive a sequel, due to an upcoming reboot of the franchise. It remains unclear whether those plans are still ongoing or if this series represents the new direction, pivoting to the small screen. Either way, this television series will set up the latest actor to take on the role in live-action, following Vikander and, of course, Angelina Jolie's portrayal in the 2001 film that was (very) loosely based on the classic video game series.
As for Waller-Bridge, this marks only the latest production stemming from her deal with Amazon. THR reports that a mysterious project of hers that we previously wrote about is unconnected to this "Tomb Raider" news and is still in the works. Meanwhile, we most recently covered the news that the writer/actor would be tackling a new dark comedy series based on the novel "Sign Here." The next few years promise to be incredible busy for Waller-Bridge.
Stay tuned to /Film for any and all updates as they come in.