This week will see TOMB RAIDER try to rise above the level of past video games movies, trying to raise the bar for the genre. The movie will focus on the grittier reimagining of Lara Croft (played here by Alicia Vikander) that revitalized the video game series, and the video game’s writer, Rhianna Pratchett, wants to take things further in the future by showing Lara as a battle-tested, badass older woman.
Pratchett spoke with EW recently about bringing Lara into the modern age, stepping away from the highly sexualized version of the character in earlier games. In terms of the future of the games, Pratchett said it would be cool to explore a 50-year-old Lara who perhaps could be taking a younger pupil under her wing, a theme explored in other video games.
I’d love to write an older Lara in her 50s, who’s grizzled and war-torn, because we get that with male protagonists,” Pratchett says. “Snake [from Metal Gear] has evolved over the years, and so has Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell: He’s been allowed to get older, and I’d love to see that with a character like Lara, as older and battle-hardened. And maybe she has to take another character under her wing, which is often done with dad figures in games — it’s the ‘dad-ification’ of games, like John in The Last of Us or Booker in BioShock Infinite.
This recent run of games focuses on a younger Lara, fresh out of college and eager to go on an adventure. Though it may be a long way off until we would see some sort of Old Woman Lara scenario in the game or movie world, Pratchett can see her taking on a mother role, guiding her child through the world of dangerous archaeology.
I’d also be interested in seeing Lara as a mother. How would that work? How would she even have time? I’d love to see more action moms in games. There’s so much we can do, so many stories we can tell, it feels like we’re just scratching the surface…The baby could have a tiny bow and arrow. It’d be so cute!
I could certainly get behind playing as an older, grittier Lara Croft, after years of thrill-seeking and treasure hunting has taken a toll. The current run of TOMB RAIDER games seems to be having a lot of success focusing on the younger Lara, so they will probably stick with that for a while. These new movies are just getting started too (Vikander herself is 29 years old), so seeing this tougher Lara may be a bit far off. As long as she says something to the effect of, "I'm getting too old for this shit," I would be happy.
TOMB RAIDER is in theaters this Friday!
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