bitchy | Sophie Turner has reportedly been cast as Lara Croft in Prime’s new series?

For years, Amazon Prime has been trying to pull together a series based on the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider video game. The game/IP was already adapted in two films starring Angelina Jolie, and one 2018 film starring Alicia Vikander as Lara. For some reason, I thought Vikander’s turn as Croft was a flop, but I just checked the box office and it made $274 million worldwide, not too shabby with a $90 million budget. Still, within the cultural zeitgeist, Angelina Jolie is the actress more closely associated with Lara Croft, and the 2001 film also made $274 million worldwide. Well, like Spider-Man, they’re just going to keep rebooting this property, and reportedly, Sophie Turner has been cast as the new Lara.

Sophie Turner has been tapped to play Lara Croft in an upcoming streaming adaptation of Tomb Raider and a source exclusively tells Life & Style the Game of Thrones alum is throwing herself into the project and giving it everything she has to try to top the original actress who brought the character to life almost 25 years ago, Angelina Jolie.

Amazon greenlit the Tomb Raider television series earlier this year, but the insider, who is familiar with the project on the streaming giant’s side, dishes, “This show is a little further along than has been reported in the press so far and some of the scripts that have come in are so good you could just break them out and turn them into full blown blockbuster movies on their right.”

With anticipation building, the production company isn’t cutting any corners to make sure it doesn’t fall flat, as video game adaptations have been hit or miss recently. “It’s going to be a cool show,” the source assures. “It’s going to be gritty and violent and it’s going to please the old school fans of the property.” Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be heading the project as writer and producer and the lead role has finally been given to Sophie, 29, after a few months of rumors swirling around casting.

“Sophie is going to town with the training for this movie, and she’s already extremely experienced with screen combat, stunts, and extreme costumes and special effects, thanks to her years in the Game of Thrones and X-Men universes,” the insider adds. “But she’s getting into even better shape for this job, and sharpening all of her skill sets.”

Without a doubt, Sophie is taking notes from Angie’s prep. “She absolutely loves what Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander did with their films, but she wants to equal that work and, over the course of many years-slash-seasons, top it,” the source adds. “Sophie is actually the first English actress to play Lara Croft in live action. That’s a big deal and Sophie knows that gives her a special edge compared to Angelina and Alicia.”

[From Life & Style]

I didn’t think about the fact that, if true, Sophie would be the first English actress to portray Croft. I’m actually okay with this casting? Sophie is tall and it feels like she could really get buff and do some good stunt work. One of my issues with Vikander was that I just thought she was way too small and delicate-looking to play Croft. The character needs someone who looks physically tough and tomboy-ish, and I think Sophie could pull that off. Now, all that being said, I bet Prime still finds a way to f–k it up.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.