Tomb Raider franchise initially originated as an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. The first game, Tomb Raider, was released in 1996. The gaming series quickly gained popularity and birthed the idea of a movie franchise.

In 2001, actress Angelina Jolie played the role of Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. A second installment in the franchise was released in 2003, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life, once again featuring Jolie, however, that was the end of her run.

In 2018, the creators tried to revive the franchise by releasing Tomb Raider (2018), based on the 2013 video game of the same name. The producer of the film once explained why Jolie didn’t make an appearance in the movie despite contributing so much to the success of the franchise.

Tomb Raider (2018) was a reboot

Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider (2018)
Actress Angelina Jolie‘s time as Lara Croft was quite short-lived. She played the character in two movies, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003). The franchise then put the idea of another movie on hold and focused on their video games because the movies received mixed reviews from the viewers.

In 2013, Crystal Dynamics created a reboot of the gaming series called Tomb Raider. While that timeline continues, a movie based on the 2013 game was created in 2018 starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft. The story was completely different and had no connection with Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider movies.

Why was Angelina Jolie’s cameo scrapped from Tomb Raider (2018)?

Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
Despite Angelina Jolie contributing so much to the success of the franchise with her movies, she never made an appearance in the reboot. In an interview with CinemaBlend, producer Graham King explained why it never happened,

“It was never a story that had that moment where you could, you know what I mean? Pass the baton over. There wasn’t that kind of tone and that would’ve changed tones to have that… the studios of course, said ‘Is there a way to get Angie? Should we try and have her kind of baton over this kind of thing?’ And I understand it for marketing and studios or whatever, but that never felt organic to our film. Something like that can tip the balance.”
Angelina Jolie’s appearance in the film wouldn’t make sense as her version of Lara Croft was not linked to the latest film. On top of that, the chances of Jolie accepting the role were low anyway.

Will fans get a sequel to Tomb Raider?

Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider (2018)
A sequel to the 2018’s Tomb Raider was initially planned and Alicia Vikander was also interested in the movie. Before the release of the first film she said,
“If there’s an audience out there for it, then I would love to.”
In 2019, Amy Jump was hired to write a script, and Ben Wheatley, Jump’s husband, was hired to direct the sequel, with the release date set to be March 19, 2021. Warner Bros. Pictures then left the project and it was announced that filming would start in early 2020 in England.

However, due to Covid-19, the project was delayed and in May 2021, Misha Green replaced Jump and Wheatley respectively as writer and director. Things were going smoothly until it was announced that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lost the rights to the Tomb Raider franchise.

In January 2023, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer sister company Amazon Studios secured the rights to a new Tomb Raider film.