With Tomb Raider 2 canceled, here are five casting candidates that could play Lara Croft in a Tomb Raider reboot. In the games, Lara Croft is a British archeologist who traverses the globe in search of treasure and artifacts. Croft has a number of signature attributes, including her athletic strength, attractive appearance, and proficiency with a wide assortment of weapons, including her iconic dual pistols. Created in 1996, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider has appeared in a number of video games, comic books, and an upcoming anime series on Netflix with Agent Carter‘s Hayley Atwell voicing the character.
The first actress to play Lara Croft in live action was Angelina Jolie, who played the character in 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and the sequel, 2003’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. Swedish actress Alicia Vikander took over the role with 2018’s Tomb Raider, which served as a reboot, adapting the 2013 game, which itself was a reboot of the game franchise. A sequel had been planned with Vikander returning and was set to be written and directed by Lovecraft County creator Misha Green, but since MGM failed to greenlight the film on time, the rights reverted to producer Graham King and his GK Films. The plan is now to reboot the franchise with a new lead, as a bidding war takes place over the rights.
There are many actresses who could potentially fill Lara Croft’s boots, but some are more compelling than others in terms of presence, talent, looks, and age. It’s likely that producers will be looking to cast on the younger side to capitalize on Tomb Raider sequels with the same lead, as is usually the case when looking at a reboot (similar to the casting of Tom Holland in Uncharted). While it’s not necessary to cast a British actress to embody the role, it does lend and air of authenticity. While Croft is typically portrayed as white, there’s plenty of room to explore other races in the role, so long as they adhere to the main standards of the character, which casts a much wider and more diverse net for candidates. Here are a few casting choices.
Naomi Scott
British-born Scott (age 29) has made a name for herself in a multitude of projects since getting her start with Disney’s Life Bites and the TV movie Lemonade Mouth. She played Maddy Shannon in the sci-fi series Terra Nova and would later prove her action chops by playing the Pink Ranger in the Power Rangers live-action movie. Scott followed that up with the mega-hit Aladdin, playing Princess Jasmine, showing that she could handle a big-budget production with ease, later taking on another strong female role in the failed reboot of Charlie’s Angels. The actress is currently appearing in Netflix’s Anatomy of a Scandal and has a wide-open schedule to test her abilities as the lead of an action franchise like Tomb Raider, proving her charm, wit, and strength are well suited for the character of Lara Croft.
Daisy Ridley
Ridley is the British-born actress (age 30) best known as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, which includes The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. Prior to working on Star Wars, Ridley was a relative unknown, having appeared in a number of TV series one-offs and short films. Since the Star Wars trilogy finale, the actress has kept a relatively low profile, appearing in the sci-fi dud Chaos Walking with Tom Holland and Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express. Ridley does have a number of projects on the way, including Neil Burger’s revenge thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter, Joachim Rønning’s Young Woman And The Sea biopic, and the WWII drama Women in the Castle. The actress is primed to return to a strong franchise character like Tomb Raider at this point, something she’s well-equipped to handle, especially as Disney appears to have no plans for Rey anytime soon.
Nathalie Emmanuel
Emmanuel was born in Essex, England (age 33) and has made a name for herself by starring in two of the biggest franchises currently running; Game of Thrones and The Fast and The Furious. For GOT, Emmanuel played Missandei, the slave-turned-handmaiden of Daenerys Targaryen. In Fast & Furious, Emmanuel plays Ramsey, the sexy computer hacker turned globetrotting crew member to Dom and his gang. The actress has appeared in a number of TV series since emerging on the scene, including Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Die Hart, and The Coldest Case. She recently appeared in Netflix’s Army of Thieves as the badass Gwendoline Starr and is joining the cast of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, as well as returning as Ramsey for Fast X. Emmanuel’s resume, talent, appearance, and tested strengths in the action-adventure genre make her a prime candidate for Lara Croft.
Florence Pugh
Born in Oxfordshire, England, Pugh (age 35) has a strong, varied filmography that’s tested her limits as an actress. Pugh made a distinct impression as the formidable Elizabeth Burgh in Netflix’s Outlaw King with Chris Pine and the new adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl series with Alexander Skarsgard. These launched Pugh onto Hollywood’s radar, leading to the biopic Fighting with my Family, produced by Dwayne Johnson, and Ari Aster’s horror hit Midsommar. Pugh went on to portray Amy March in Little Women and then took on the MCU as Yelena Belova in Black Widow (and again for the Disney+ series Hawkeye), proving that she can handle action and drama. The actress has a number of high-profile projects coming up that will continue to show off her considerable talents, including Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part 2. With so many notable credits to her name, Pugh has proven to have the charisma, and occupancy to put a strong spin on Tomb Raider.
Jenna Coleman
Born in Blackpool, England (age 36), Coleman has been acting on British TV since 2005, eventually sneaking into Hollywood productions in between. She has appeared in shows like Emmerdale Farm, Waterloo Road, and Dancing on the Edge, before netting the role of Clara on Doctor Who, all of which showed off her many strengths as an actress, including her ability to work in multiple genres with ease. Coleman appeared briefly in Captain America: The First Avenger, as well as the romance drama Me Before You with Emilia Clarke, but she has mostly stuck with British TV work, including the recent Queen Victoria series Victoria. Currently, she appears as Johanna Constantine in Netflix’s The Sandman, which continued to flesh out her prowess as a versatile actor that could no doubt handle Lara Croft’s tenacious energy while wielding two pistols in the Tomb Raider reboot.
