Tomb Raider star Hayley Atwell says the Netflix series aims to create a “more complicated” Lara Croft that isn’t “always driven by the big, bold brushstrokes of heroism”

Hayley Atwell, star of Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, has revealed how the new Netflix series aims to create a “more complicated” depiction of the video game icon.

“[Director Meredith Layne] and [creator] Tasha [Huo] were really keen that we create a Lara that is recognizable as resilient, witty, with physical prowess [and] curious, but also someone that is a bit more complicated than that, that it’s not always driven by the big, bold brushstrokes of heroism,” Atwell tells GamesRadar+.

The Lara we see in The Legend of Lara Croft, then, is one broken by her adventures in the Survivor trilogy of games (the Netflix series picks up post-2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider) and by the loss of several people close to her. This Lara Croft, alongside a familiar all-guns-blazing approach, is fallible, impulsive – and (arguably) more complex than her video game counterpart.

For Atwell, part of the charm of this iteration of the character was exploring the archaeologist’s “humanity” alongside her globetrotting and trap-dodging adventures.

“It’s to do with sort of mirroring back the cultural consciousness of how we, as audience members, want to see our heroes,” Atwell explains. “What seems to be more of a trend is seeing what makes them tick or seeing limitations in who they are… rather than just being impenetrably brilliant and unflappable, which is great to see – but not very human.”

Atwell adds, “As we – as audiences – develop more of an interest in wanting to see the humanity alongside these kinds of aspirational characters then, as a creative, I want to be showing that and offering that up to the audience.”

Hayley Atwell stars in Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, with all eight episodes streaming on Netflix.

For more, check out our verdict on the series in the Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft review. Then dive into these picks for the best anime on Netflix and the new anime you should be watching in 2024.