Just over a week ago, Amazon shared with Tomb Raider fans a first look at Sophie Turner as Lara Croft in the upcoming TV series adaptation, which recently started principal photography.
Now, during an interview with the LA Times for another Prime Video show (Steal, a six-episode limited series available now for streaming), Turner spoke a little about her version of the beloved English adventurer and archeologist. She clarified that she and the showrunners are focusing on Lara's extraordinary skill set rather than her sexy appearance, unlike previous games and even the movies starring Angelina Jolie, which didn't shy away from it.
My Lara is not a sex bombshell. It's about her and her story and what drives her, rather than what so many people also love about her, which is how hot she is in the games and the movies. But I really want to show the other side. She’s so unashamedly capable. She is not a woman who hides her strengths at all.
Interestingly, the actress, who got her breakthrough role as Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones and was also a main character (Jean Grey) in X-Men's Dark Phoenix, says she never trained as hard for any role as she did for Lara Croft's upcoming Tomb Raider TV series.
I now really feel like I could protect them [Editor’s Note: she's referring to her kids]. As a mum, I come up with scenarios in my head, and I’m like, ‘OK, if a man jumped out of here, what would I do?’ And it’s always like, ‘I just pick the kids up and run. But now it’s changed. My instinct would be to deck him in the face.
I’ve never had to train for anything like this before. In ‘X-Men’, we had to be in good shape, but my character was telekinetic, so I didn’t need to do much. I didn’t realize I could push my body that far. I feel like I’ve achieved something even before we’ve started shooting.
Truthfully, even the most recent Tomb Raider reboot trilogy started moving away from Lara Croft's previously inherent sexiness. We'll see if that continues with the next game iteration, Tomb Raider: Catalyst, in development at Crystal Dynamics and scheduled to launch in 2027.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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