Lara Croft Is Coming for You All in Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft

Lara makes her glorious return in the animated series.

More than 25 years after her debut, Lara Croft once again dons her fingerless gloves to reclaim ancient relics in Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, streaming on Netflix now.

When does Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft take place?

The series continues right after the events of the Survivor trilogy of video games — Tomb Raider,Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider — and finds Lara (voiced by Hayley Atwell) abandoning her friends to embark on increasingly more perilous solo adventures.

However, Lara must return home when a dangerous and powerful Chinese artifact is stolen from Croft Manor by a thief with an uncanny personal connection. Her daring pursuit will take her on an adventure around the world and to the depths of forgotten tombs, where she’ll be forced to confront her true self and decide just what kind of hero she wants to become.

Creator and showrunner Tasha Huo decided to set the animated series at this point in Lara’s timeline to reveal a stage in her evolution that fans haven’t seen adapted yet. It’s meant to be “the connective tissue,” as Huo tells Tudum, between the Lara Croft of the Survivor series — which was, in effect, her origin story — to the “superhero action adventure star” of the original video games and the Angelina Jolie films. “It’s this in-between phase where she’s coming of age,” Huo explains, “and she’s learning how to become that person and figuring out who she is.”

Who’s in the Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croftvoice cast?

In addition to Atwell in the title role, the voice cast will include Allen Maldonado as Zip and Earl Baylon reprising his role as Jonah Maiava from the video game.

The development of Lara’s friendships is a major theme in the series. “We’re trying to build Lara’s team,” says Huo. “Over the course of the show, she goes from an isolated hero, a lone wolf, to someone who realizes, ‘Actually, I have this really cool team behind me.’ ”

What is Lara Croft’s combat style?

“The thing I love about Lara is she has a myriad of combat styles,” says Huo. “She was a bouncer at one point, so she has sort of a brawler style, which we definitely have in the show at times.”

Huo’s interest in wrestling was also an inspiration. “She does a hurricanrana,” she says. “But as we’ve seen in the movies, she’s very skilled at boxing and Krav Maga. She’s also one of the most agile adventure heroes that we have, so we gave her a lot of knowledge of different kinds of fighting styles.”

But what about the weaponry? In the new series, Lara will get to show off her mastery of various different implements. “As far as weapons, I love that shit,” says Huo. “In the games, some of the most fun you have is getting to level up your weapons –– go from a hand axe and level up to a gun … Her character design is going to become a sort of metaphor for how she changes and discovers herself.”

What ancient relic is Lara Croft looking for?

It wouldn’t be Tomb Raider if Lara wasn’t in hot pursuit of powerful ancient relics. In the new animated series, she’s in search of artifacts that have roots in Chinese mythology. “Everything you find in Tomb Raider is going to be based loosely off of history,” says Huo. “Being half Chinese myself, I really wanted to write something that, as a girl growing up, I always wanted to see, and that’s an adventure taking place within Chinese mythology … I have a degree in history, so all of that became very important for me.”

Who is the creative team?

From Legendary Television, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is executive produced and written by Huo (The Witcher: Blood Origin, Red Sonja). Executive producers include dj2 Entertainment founder and CEO Dmitri M. Johnson (Sonic the Hedgehog, Life Is Strange), along with Timothy I. Stevenson; Jacob Robinson (Skull Island) under his company Tractor Pants; Dallas Dickinson and Noah Hughes for Crystal Dynamics; and Howard Bliss and Jen Chambers. Powerhouse Animation is the animation studio, with Brad Graeber serving as executive producer.

Where can I watch the Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft trailer?

See Lara Croft make her glorious return at the top of this article!

What is the Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft release date?

Watch Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft began streaming on Oct. 10, only on Netflix.