When the Tomb Raider video game series rebooted itself a few years back, it sent waves around the gaming community. The franchise, which has been around since 1996, is one of the most recognizable game series in the world, and it underwent a serious makeover in 2013. It became grittier, more intense, and more intimate. Hollywood took note of this, and decided that a rebooted film series should coincide with this new wave of rejuvenated Tomb Raider games. 

Paramount had tried to strike gold with two Tomb Raider films that starred Angelina Jolie, and found some decent success there, but it didn’t turn into anything with serious legs on it. Now Warner Bros is going to take a crack at it.

It’s been known for some time that a Tomb Raider reboot was in the works, and that Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Danish Girl) was taking over as series protagonist Lara Croft. What hasn’t been known is exactly how close to the relaunched game series the film would be. The last Tomb Raider films attempted to be more of a female James Bond by-way-of Indiana Jones franchise. Turns out this one really is going to take its cues from the more grounded, emotional story of the new games.

Producer Graham King told Hey U Guys that the new Tomb Raider was “this is kind of what we call a ‘back to the roots story.’” He continued, “This is a young Lara Croft in search to see if her father is dead or alive, so it has very emotional part to it and I think that’s what Alicia found so interesting about it.”

It sounds like a solid premise for a new Tomb Raider series, and Vikander’s definitely got the acting chops to make this thing fly. 

Tomb Raider comes out March 16, 2018.

SOURCE: Hey U Guys