Lara Croft is more than a character; she’s a cultural phenomenon. As the Tomb Raider franchise turns 30, we break down the evolution of the world’s most famous video game heroine, from her controversial origins to the upcoming live-action TV series starring Sophie Turner.
Lara Croft’s boots were made for raidin’, and that’s just what they’ve done for three decades, and not just in the realm of video games. The Tomb Raider franchise is 30 years old in 2026, but its central character has lived more than a few lifetimes, leaping from PlayStation titles to movies to magazine covers as one of the first digital celebrities. Now, as new live-action TV series star Sophie Turner prepares to make her Tomb Raider debut in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s upcoming show, we’ve compiled a definitive history of Lara Croft with insights from the actresses who’ve played the part, the filmmakers behind prior movies, and game developers new and old about what makes the adventurer and her legacy so heroic.
Introducing Lara Croft (1996)
Initially conceived as a man, Lara Croft ultimately sprang from the mind of Core Design animator Toby Gard in response to the male-dominated arena of action-adventure games. As Sony’s PlayStation poised itself to disrupt the gaming market with its advanced 3-D capabilities, so did Croft. She was a slick, witty, dastardly British heiress who saved the world not with superpowers, but rather physical prowess and brainy gumption.
Gard, along with a small team of developers, crafted the first Tomb Raider game in a converted Victorian house in the English city of Derby. “Honestly, I sat there thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is insane,'” developer Gavin Rummery tells EW. “It was a bit like showing up at a car manufacturer wondering what you’re going to work on, and them being like, ‘Oh, you’re going to work on hovercars.'” Tomb Raider‘s unique gameplay elements (it was one of the first 3-D actioners of its size and scope), unconventional lead character, and cinematic aesthetic made it one of the best-selling games of all time.
The ‘Sexy’ Pinup Era and a Growing Friction
Actress Rhona Mitra got her big break as a Lara Croft model in the late ’90s, when publisher Eidos sought to market the character as a sexy pinup, as opposed to the capable action-explorer seen in the games. That drove a wedge between the developers and their distributor.
Gard intended to sell Tomb Raider as a revolutionary game, while Eidos saw its star as a head-turning cash cow who’d hawk the title for them. “I think it was one of the things that riled up Toby and all of us, when the marketing got ahold of her and used her as a glamor model,” Rummery says. “That’s just not the character in the games. She’s not that kind of girl.”
He adds that none of the Core team members had any idea Croft would become a mainstream celebrity, nor did they intend to make her one: “It’s absolutely true [that her backstory wasn’t important for us]. We were actually backfilling a story for her. She had a very brief history that appeared in the cover manual that came with the game, which was short and explained how she’d gone from being an aristocratic young lady, but later rebelled and discovered herself after surviving a plane crash during a ski trip, which explained why she was a loner.… But we hadn’t really thought of anything beyond that.”
Global Superstardom and the “Nude Cheat” Myth
As Croft’s profile ballooned, so did Core’s workload. Rummery says Eidos was keen on producing Tomb Raider II on a tight turnaround of eight months. It was a grueling schedule for the overworked staff, though they met their holiday deadline and were paid handsomely in royalties. Croft’s international appeal broadened even further. She landed partially nude on the covers of magazines, appeared in commercials for soft drinks, and even went on tour with U2.
Croft rose to prominence in a conflicting era of men’s magazines and girl power, and Eidos ultimately caved to the desires of teen boys with its sexualized marketing of Croft. But according to Rummery, “The games never went down that route. We were constantly asked about the [nonexistent] nude cheat. We even riffed on it at the end of Tomb Raider II.”
He points to a scene that sees Croft preparing to shower, only to tell the player they’ve “seen enough” as she shoots the in-game camera before it captures her disrobing. “That [scene] was literally our response to constantly being asked things like that,” Rummery says. “We had a lot of lads’ mags asking those questions, and it’s like, for God’s sake, guys, she’s a computer character!”
The Near-Death of a Franchise and a Hollywood Rescue
After years of cranking out sequels on tight deadlines, the Core team reportedly grew so tired of the franchise that they weighed the idea of beheading Croft at the end of the series’ fourth installment, subtitled The Last Revelation. They settled for ambiguity: Instead of Croft meeting a grisly end on camera, the game concludes as a pyramid collapses around her, leaving players in the dark about Croft’s true fate.
Despite The Last Revelation‘s dramatic finale, Croft was presumed dead but didn’t stay buried for long. Tomb Raider Chronicles (the fifth game in five years) picks up immediately following the events of its forerunner. However, the franchise hit a major snag with Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003), which was critically panned and commercially underwhelming. The game’s development was reportedly chaotic, with Rummery telling EuroGamer that the team had grown to over 100 people without proper leadership, resulting in a disjointed and unpolished product.
Like any great hero, Croft wasn’t down for the count. She’d rise again when Crystal Dynamics took control of the franchise from Core. The developer mounted a critically lauded reboot for the PlayStation 2, Tomb Raider: Legend (2006), which reimagined Croft’s image, story, and gameplay for new audiences.
Angelina Jolie: The Movie Star Maker
Lara Croft had become a superstar on her own, but playing her in the first Tomb Raider movie made a bona fide movie star out of Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie.
Director Simon West tells EW that Paramount Pictures wanted to cast an actress “safer” than Jolie (such as Jennifer Lopez or Ashley Judd), whose unorthodox behavior cultivated a “wicked” persona. “The main reason I wanted Angelina to play the part [was] because she, especially at that time, had a great, dark reputation about her that she was quite wicked,” West says. “She lived quite an alternative lifestyle, and she didn’t hold back her words. She spoke her mind, and she had a notorious reputation. It was quite hard for me to get her through the approval process at the studio because I wanted an actress who was going to bring something to the part, and she brought this great Angelina Jolie mythology with her as this dark, crazy, wicked woman with a very particular and interesting personality. I wanted that mythology of Angelina Jolie to fuse with Lara Croft.”
His convictions paid off, as the film earned $131 million domestically, which was, at the time, the highest-ever gross for a female-fronted action picture. Jolie would return for a sequel, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life, in 2003.
The Relatable Reboot and Alicia Vikander’s Reinvention
Frustrated by the direction Eidos had taken in marketing Croft to male gamers, writer Rhianna Pratchett took matters into her own hands when Crystal Dynamics launched a massive franchise reboot in 2013. “Classic Lara had been a playgirl with the money, gadgets, and guns to deal with any situation, jetting around the world and having these big adventures, and being very James Bond-y,” says Pratchett, whose series overhaul was simply titled Tomb Raider. “That’s not quite as relatable in this day and age of economic strife as maybe she once was. It was great escapism, but we’ve seen a lot of characters like this, living in fantasies. With this Lara, I wanted to bring her down to earth a little bit more, and think about her as an average London student just out of university who paid her way through and worked bar jobs, someone more in line with young women in London today.”
Pratchett’s goal was to reintroduce Croft as relatable to the droves of young women who’d flocked to video games in recent years. The resulting “Survivor” trilogy of titles starred Camilla Luddington as Croft, exploring her vulnerability and fear on the road toward becoming the hero she was always meant to be.
Just as Crystal Dynamics reinvented Croft for a new generation, Warner Bros. did the same on the big screen, 17 years after the first Tomb Raider film. Following in Jolie’s footsteps was fellow Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl), in an origin story loosely adapted from the 2013 game. Vikander focused on making the character’s physical strength plausible. “I’m a quite petite girl, and in this film industry I look at stunt girls and admire their strength. That’s the kind of strength I want Lara to have, and it was very empowering to change and feel like I could pump up my own weight. That made me feel like I could create a character people will hopefully believe in.”
The New Frontier: Games, Animation, and the Live-Action TV Series
Croft’s evolution continues at a rapid pace. In 2024, she made her major animated series debut in Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft on Netflix, with actress Hayley Atwell lending her voice. The showrunners explained the series bridges gaps left open after the prior games, exploring “the life obstacles that made Lara go from that dark, sad, kind of traumatized person in the ‘Survivor’ series into that bright light that she became in the classic era.”
Adding to the momentum, developer Crystal Dynamics and Amazon Game Studios announced at the 2025 Game Awards that two new Tomb Raider games would release in the near future: Tomb Raider: Catalyst, the long-awaited next entry in the main franchise, and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, another reimagining of the groundbreaking first-ever entry in the series.
Now, the franchise is set to explore new territory with a live-action TV series. Game of Thrones alum Sophie Turner is suited and booted for her next on-screen venture as the 29-year-old star will holster up as Croft in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s live-action TV series. A first-look image of Turner as Croft stoked fan anticipation for its nostalgic dressings, with Turner’s costume channeling the beloved Tomb Raider II game’s aesthetic thanks to a pair of red-hued sunglasses, short shorts, a leather backpack, a teal tank top, and Croft’s signature braided ponytail. Though plot details are tightly under wraps, the show will include characters familiar to the game series, including Bill Paterson in the role of Winston, Croft’s butler.
Lara Croft’s journey from a controversial marketing tool to a symbol of female empowerment across multiple media is a testament to her enduring appeal. Each iteration, from Jolie’s iconic swagger to Turner’s modern take, has built upon the last, ensuring that the world’s most famous tomb raider will continue to captivate audiences for decades to come.
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