According to series’ lead voice actor Hayley Atwell, protagonist Lara Croft’s “humanity” will be a major narrative focus of Netflix’s Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft.
The latest voice to bring franchise protagonist Lara Croft to life, Atwell provided this insight into the animated series’ direction during a recent interview given to GameRadar+‘s Bradley Russell.
Speaking to how the series would tackle its main character, the former Marvel Cinematic Universe star explained, “[Director Meredith Layne] and [creator] Tasha [Huo] were really keen that we create a Lara that is recognizable as resilient, witty, with physical prowess [and] curious, but also someone that is a bit more complicated than that, that it’s not always driven by the big, bold brushstrokes of heroism.”
Noting the fact that Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft‘s picks up sometime after the events of 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Atwell then detailed how the series’ version of the famous heroine will be much more ‘realistic’ than her digital analog.
“It’s to do with sort of mirroring back the cultural consciousness of how we, as audience members, want to see our heroes,” said the actor. “What seems to be more of a trend is seeing what makes them tick or seeing limitations in who they are… rather than just being impenetrably brilliant and unflappable, which is great to see – but not very human.”
“As we – as audiences – develop more of an interest in wanting to see the humanity alongside these kinds of aspirational characters then, as a creative, I want to be showing that and offering that up to the audience,” she added.
Atwell would further expand on this sentiment during a separate interview with Radio Times‘ Louise Griffin, telling the UK-based outlet, “”She’s this adventurer who goes on these myth-fuelled perilous solo adventures, and she also has this background where, although it’s a huge privilege, there has been a cost.”
“Lara’s emotionally struggling with things, and in this series, you see that. It basically picks up after the events of the games of the Survivor Trilogy,” said the actress. “She’s emotionally at her lowest point, and she’s been abandoning her friends to embark on all these solo adventures, but one of these adventures actually leads her back to home, where she’s having to confront who she really is, opposite her friends.”
“For example, Lara might be driven by this belief that what she’s doing is important and heroic or brave, but it might be her friends pointing out that she’s also trying to probably run away from her feelings,” Atwell explained. “She’d rather be jumping off cliffs and examining ancient artefacts with evil spirits than she would dealing with the fact that she doesn’t really like to be at a party.”
“She gets anxiety,” she concluded. “I think that’s charming and endearing, and it gives me an opportunity as an actor to bring that particular quality to her, which may be different from what we’ve seen before, but certainly in keeping with what we know her to be.”
For those interested in checking out this more ‘grounded’ Lara, Netflix’s Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft hits the platform today, October 10th.
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