After more than 25 years, she is still a symbol of feminine strength – something that gets more nuance in the new series.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com ahead of the release of Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, Atwell explains: “Even if people aren’t that familiar with the games, or have seen one movie or another, she’s a very well-known, beloved figure, and she’s been with us for decades, and I always loved the fact that the writers were women.

“One of the women who created her was Vicky Arnold (scriptwriter for the original Tomb Raider games), later she was formed by Rhianna Pratchett (writer of the 2013 and 2015 Tomb Raider reboot games), and then Jill Murray (writer of Shadow of the Tomb Raider), who developed her further, and now we have Tasha Huo (showrunner of the Netflix series).

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“And what I loved is the fact that you’ve had this character that exists, that she continues to develop, and that’s what, I think, makes her enduring.”

It’s easy to tell that the new Tomb Raider series was written by a woman, perhaps especially in the small details. In one scene, Lara declares to everyone who can hear that a dress she is wearing has pockets.

Atwell points out how important it is that she always has a hair tie on hand. “Those little details, I think, make her more human and approachable,” she adds.

Other women who have shaped the character include Alicia Vikander and Angelina Jolie (“What a list to be a part of!”) – and Atwell is keen to honor their legacy while adding something new.

“These are very dynamic, strong women with great range and variety in their careers, and Keeley Hawes, who does voiceover work, there are so many incredible women who have played her, and what I loved is that they all bring themselves to it – their own interpretation, their own voice, their own physicality – but what we all retain is a fundamental understanding of what Lara is about,” Atwell emphasizes.

“She’s an adventurer who goes on these myth-fueled dangerous solo adventures, and she also comes from a background where, while it’s an enormous privilege, it comes at a price.

“Lara struggles emotionally with things, and in this series you see that. It actually starts after the events of the Survivor Trilogy games. She’s at her lowest point emotionally and she abandons her friends to embark on all these solo activities. adventures, but one of these adventures actually leads her back home, where she must confront who she really is in front of her friends.

“For example, Lara may be driven by the belief that what she is doing is important and heroic or courageous, but it may be her friends who point out that she is probably also trying to run from her feelings. She prefers jumping off cliffs and exploring ancient artifacts with evil spirits than she would deal with the fact that she doesn’t really like being at a party.

“She gets scared. I find that charming and endearing, and it gives me as an actor the opportunity to convey that specific quality to her, which may be different from what we’ve seen before, but certainly consistent with what we know her to be. are.”

Of course, in addition to her tough attitude and action hero status, there was another element that helped Lara gain fame in the 1990s: her looks. She became a sex symbol, with Atwell admitting that she had “friends who were obsessed with her, especially her early aesthetic”.

It’s easy to look back at classic versions of the character as completely oversexualized. So when it came to an animated version of the character on Netflix, getting the look right was crucial.

“When the offer first came in, they had shown me some images, references and stills to get an idea of ​​the place, and also what Lara looked like. I really liked her strength. I didn’t have the sense that something was there.” no problem at all for me,” says Atwell.

“Of course she has to be comfortable with what we know she was, because if she suddenly looked very different you would really be creating a different character. So there have to be elements of who she was in the beginning, and I think that , even if the costumes she put into the animation evolve over time, it’s more a reflection of how comfortable she is in her own skin.

“That’s what I feel when I look at it: her physicality and her aesthetic feel like a natural byproduct of what she does, rather than how she wants to be perceived in the world under the male gaze.”

Despite being such an iconic character, Lara is far from the first action hero Atwell has played – and she certainly won’t be the last, from Marvel to Mission: Impossible and beyond. But voice acting offers another kind of challenge.

“Every job I do helps me develop a little more for the next job,” says Atwell. “At drama school I really learned the power of the ensemble that the production on stage is only as good as the weakest link within the ensemble. Everyone, no matter how big the role, has to show up and participate fully and offer something On.

“And so, to be in a box where my acting choices aren’t determined by the way someone reads a line to me, I have to do it completely blindly. It becomes super technical, and then I trust the director to do that. ” choose the shots of the other actors’ performances that best match the tone of the scene I’ve created on my end.

“So for me, nothing really prepares you other than gaining technical skills or the confidence to go. I’ve done a lot of things in the past that I didn’t know how to do at the time, I just got myself into it deposited and I can see what happens…

“I never feel 100 percent fully prepared or super confident about what I’m doing. I guess all I’ve done and still do is show up and see what happens. I think Lara does that in this series too. “

So, after 28 years and counting, what makes Lara so enduring, from one of the lucky few to have had the chance to play her?

“She is unique because she is an action adventurer who (creates) myth-fueled stories. So it combines elements from archeology and history and ancient cultures, and that makes it timeless,” Atwell emphasizes.

“It makes her curious as a person, as opposed to just physicality or aesthetics. And she evolves over time. We’ve had such incredible women who have been there from the beginning to shape who she is, and that now continues in the lineage with Tasha, and then of course so many other actresses who have played her in some capacity.

“Really, it’s about how Lara evolves with the times and gives the audience what they expect from her in terms of what she stands for, but also who she is today and how that can change.”

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft will be released on Thursday, October 10, 2024.

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