A new rumor claims that Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who will appear in the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny movie, will write a Tomb Raider TV series as part of a Tomb Raider universe at Amazon Studios.
This new rumor comes from Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva, who claims Waller-Bridge will “write a TV series as part of a potential Tomb Raider universe that would span television, film and games.”
Andreeva also claims that Waller-Bridge “could also be involved in the potential movie” as well as the TV series.
This rumored TV series and film will allegedly be part of a new Tomb Raider franchise and universe that will also include video games similar to what James Gunn and Peter Safran have detailed for their vision of the DCU.
Amazon acquired the Tomb Raider rights when they purchased MGM back in May 2021.
As part of a press release Amazon Studios and Prime Video’s Senior Vice President Mike Hopkins noted the deal included Tomb Raider, “MGM has a vast catalog with more than 4,000 films—12 Angry Men, Basic Instinct, Creed, James Bond, Legally Blonde, Moonstruck, Poltergeist, Raging Bull, Robocop, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, Stargate, Thelma & Louise, Tomb Raider, The Magnificent Seven, The Pink Panther, The Thomas Crown Affair, and many other icons—as well as 17,000 TV shows—including Fargo, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Vikings—that have collectively won more than 180 Academy Awards and 100 Emmys.”
He added, “The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team. It’s very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high-quality storytelling.”
RELATED: Amazon Games To Develop New ‘Tomb Raider’ Game With Crystal Dynamics
Not only did Amazon tout Tomb Raider in their acquisition of MGM, but they recently announced a new Tomb Raider game in partnership with Crystal Dynamics back in December 2022.
The press release stated, “Amazon Games and Crystal Dynamics today announced they have reached an agreement under which Crystal Dynamics will develop a new multiplatform Tomb Raider title, with Amazon Games providing full support and publishing the game globally.”
The game, which is currently untitled, will be “a single-player, narrative-driven adventure that continues Lara Croft’s story in the Tomb Raider series.”
“It includes all the elements that have made Tomb Raider one of the most revered franchises in gaming, giving players control of the confident and multidimensional hero Lara Croft in an environment that rewards exploration and creative pathfinding, with mind-bending puzzles to solve, and a wide variety of enemies to face and overcome,” the press release detailed.
If this rumor is indeed true, it signals this new Tomb Raider franchise will embrace modern Hollywood wokeness given Waller-Bridge has positioned herself as a paragon of it.
Waller-Bridge admitted that she was brought on to the most recent James Bond film No Time To Die to have Bond evolve and grow.
She explained, “There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not [the Bond franchise] is relevant now because of who he is and the way he treats women. I think that’s bollocks.”
“I think he’s absolutely relevant now. It has just got to grow. It has just got to evolve, and the important thing is that the film treats the women properly. He doesn’t have to. He needs to be true to this character,” she added.
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In Solo: A Star Wars Story, Waller-Bridge played the insufferable droid L3-37 who is used to push the idea that Lando Calrissian is pansexual by implying she had a sexual relationship with him.
On top of this the character would lead a droid rebellion. While her physical body would be destroyed in this rebellion on Kessel, she would be placed into the computer of the Millennium Falcon becoming a part of the ship.
Waller-Bridge is also an outspoken feminist telling The BBC that she would trade five years of her life for the so-called perfect body, “I would’ve been the girl with the hand up, I would’ve been like hell yes, and then thinking that was honest, and thinking that’s empowering because it’s honest and yet feeling at the same time that it’s letting the side down and not really knowing what the rules were, but then caring so deeply about women and equality and the basic principles of feminism.”
She continued, “And then slightly being frightened by the nuances and that there are traps out there. And I still feel like that. Even when I get asked about it, my heart starts beating a little faster because I know that there are mines that you can step on, and I think I’ll probably always have that.”
What do you make of this rumor about Phoebe Waller-Bridge being part of a new Tomb Raider franchise?