As Lara Croft stans, we’re skipping the wider pop culture news recap this week (sorry, sexy Buzz Lightyear) to focus on the announcements made yesterday as part of the official 25 Years of Tomb Raider Celebration festivities.
The Tomb Raider franchise debuted back on October 25, 1996, which technically made this past Monday the official series 25th anniversary. However, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix’s celebration of all things Lara Croft is a year-long event, and yesterday, October 28, was singled out as a day for dropping loads of news and thank you treats for fans.
You can read all the announcements – which include the latest on the Tomb Raider board game, an iOS digital sticker pack, museum exhibition, and real-life immersive adventure – here.
Here’s what stood out for us.
Netflix anime series
A little while ago, news broke that Agent Carter star Hayley Atwell will be voicing Lara Croft in the upcoming Netflix and Legendary Pictures’ Tomb Raider anime series. Yesterday, producer-writer Tasha Huo announced two more members of the cast, and their voice actors. Earl Baylon will be back from the Reboot game trilogy (Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider), voicing everyone’s favourite combat care bear Jonah Maiava. Meanwhile, Allen Maldonado will be Zip, the tech whiz who supported Lara’s adventures in Tomb Raider Anniversary, Legend and Underworld.
While it’s long been suspected, the anime – which is set after the events of Shadow of the Tomb Raider – will take the first steps in unifying the various Tomb Raider timelines (Classic, Legend-Anniversary-Underworld, and Reboot). “Unify the timelines” is an acknowledged guiding principle for the next game in the main Tomb Raider series.
Huo also made the intriguing comment that, in addition to the expected globetrotting adventure, the anime will “explore Lara’s life in ways we never get to in the games, but always wondered about.”
Tomb Raider: The Anime doesn’t have an official release date, but rumour is that we’ll be waiting until 2023. Here’s hoping the next cast announcements include some female allies and enemies for Lara, so the grating and outdated “one woman among many men” treatment from the live-action movies (to date) isn’t replicated.
Gaming
Already available for multiple platforms, including mobile, the isometric puzzle adventures Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, and Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, are finally coming to Nintendo Switch from 2022. The big selling point of this action-packed-yet-cerebral spin-off series is that its features a contemporary take on Classic Lara, introduces new characters, and offers satisfying co-op multiplayer.
Currently in soft launch in select countries, is free-to-play mobile game Tomb Raider Reloaded, which features Lara Croft and multiple fan-favorite characters from across franchise history. The action game is set for wide release in 2022, and now we know that the project will feature – at least for a short while – voices of the three original English-language Lara Croft voice actors, Shelley Blond, Judith Gibbins, and Jonell Elliott. They will be selectable options alongside a returning Keeley Hawes, who has voiced Lara across game projects since Tomb Raider Legend in 2006. Excluding the Reboot trilogy of course.
Other goodies
Out now for the tum raiders is brand-new Tomb Raider: The Official Cookbook and Travel Guide (which we have spoken about before). The book features over 40 recipes from the many global locations Lara Croft has visited over the years, and also includes an overview of each destination, plus travel tips. And yes, sub-Saharan Africa does feature if you were curious.
Get a closer look at the book’s contents, and buy it, here.
P.S. UK, German and Italian versions of the book are coming soon as well.
Finally, here’s something that is really special. The Tomb Raider social team collected tribute videos from many of the women who have brought Lara Croft to life in a canon capacity over the past 25 years – whether that be through physical portrayal, vocal performance, writing or art. Personally, I was thrilled to see actress Rhona Mitra (probably my favourite OG Lara model) talk today about the impact Tomb Raider has had on her life. That’s a rarity.
Extended greetings from some of the “Laras” can also be found on the Tomb Raider YouTube channel here.