Wherever you go, there you are. That iconic line has become a pop culture mainstay thanks to one of the strangest movies of the 80s, Buckaroo Banzai or, as it is formally titled, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8^th Dimension. This 1984 science fiction movie  has been a cult classic for four decades and remains a fan favorite thanks to its virtually unexplainable plot. Part comedy, part action, part scifi, part martial arts, part musical, part western, part satire and part of a franchise that never came to be, Buckaroo Banzai may be the single most bizarre movie we have ever covered for this series.

A box office bomb when it was released, grossing only six million against a seventeen million dollar budget, Buckaroo Banzai holds a decent 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes where critics sum it up succinctly as “violating every rule of storytelling and narrative structure in creating a self-contained world of its own” (Variety). Yeah, that pretty much sums up exactly why this movie has remained a personal favorite of mine for so very long. Buckaroo Banzai was released when Western pop culture was obsessed with Japanese and Chinese culture, releasing two years after Blade Runner and the same year as both The Karate Kid and Sixteen Candles. While the Asian influence is palpable, Buckaroo Banzai often feels like a teenager’s fever dream that throws everything but the kitchen sink into the crazy story. It’s legacy is so strong that everything from Star Trek  and Men in Black to Fight Club and Back To The Future have featured influences from the movie. In fact, many Buckaroo Banzai fans have spotted direct connections to Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future, whose flux capacitor bears a similarity to this film’s oscillation overthruster. Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic also shares more than a few connections in regards to the offbeat tone and team dynamic in both movies.

In short, Buckaroo Banzai is a weirdly wonderful movie that not nearly enough people have watched. It feels like a comic book movie, but there was no comic book source material – although a comic book did come later. The origins of the film came in 1974 when director W.D. Richter was introduced to the writings of Earl Mac Rauch. Both alumni of Dartmouth College, Richter read Rauch’s novel Dirty Pictures From The Prom and the duo started writing letters to each other. After several years, Rauch met Richter in L.A. and began working as a screenwriter. When Rauch first explained his idea for a character named Buckaroo Bandy, Richter and his wife paid the writer $1500 to develop what he envisioned as inspired by “all those out-and-out, press-the-accelerator-to-the-floor, non-stop kung fu movies of the early ’70s”. Richter recalls that Rauch started multiple screenplays featuring Banzai and would abandon each one after only getting about thirty pages into it. Rauch himself remembered how easy it was to start a story and then forget about it. Over those early years, the writer compiled dozens of scripts that ended up that way including treatments with titles like Find the Jetcar, Said the President and The Strange Case of Mr. Cigars. Richter said it never made its way to a finished script as Rauch would continue writing and writing and writing.

The development of Buckaroo Banzai paused when Richter began working on the screenplay for Martin Scorsese’s film New York, New York amongst other unproduced scripts. It was finally in 1980 that Richter met with producers Frank Marshall and Neil Canton. Canton and Richter formed their own production company and planned to make Buckaroo Banzai their first film. This time, Rauch wrote a sixty page script called Lepers from Saturn which they shopped around but no studio was willing to take a risk on such a strange project from unproven filmmakers. The treatment eventually made it’s way to MGM/UA who signed Richter and Rauch to a deal within 24 hours. Over the next eighteen months, Saturn became Planet 10 and Lepers became Lectroids.

The project was jeopardized by the 1980 Writer’s Guild of America strike. MGM chief David Begelman left the studio and took Buckaroo Banzai to 20^th Century Fox where they were greenlit with a $12 million budget. Three drafts later, the shooting script was ready and casting began.

While the studio wanted a recognizable face, Richter wanted an actor who “could both look heroic with grease all over his face, and project the kind of intelligence you would associate with a neurosurgeon and inventor”. Focused on stage actors, Richter stumbled upon Peter Weller. Weller was initially reluctant to take the role because of the uneven tone. Weller recalled in a classic Sci-Fi Universe Interview:

“Would it be campy? Would it be a cartoon? Or would it be the sort of wacky, realistic film that would catch people sideways—and not be a cartoon”

Weller based his character on Elia Kazan, Jacques Cousteau, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Adam Ant. Seeing as his character is a physicist/neurosurgeon/test pilot/rock star (he’s the front man in a band called The Hong Kong Cavaliers), that seems to be the right mix of inspiration. For the villainous Dr. Emilio Lizardo, the studio wanted yet another unknown but Rauch always envisioned John Lithgow as Banzai’s nemesis Lord John Whorfin. Lithgow was also unsure of playing the role but said

“I have had roles where I came very close to going over the top. In Twilight Zone I almost went over the top several times. But this role is completely over the top. It makes the role in Twilight Zone seem like a model of restraint. I do it in a wild, red fright wig and rotten false teeth with a thick Italian accent. It’s wild.”

Lithgow copied an Italian accent from Roberto Terminelli, a tailor who worked at MGM. He also adopted a crab-like walk to imitate the alien nature of his character.

Banzai’s love interest, Penny Priddy, is played by Ellen Barkin. Christopher Lloyd was the one and only choice to portray John Bigboote while the rest of the cast was rounded out by Jeff Goldblum as New Jersey, Lewis Smith as Perfect Tommy, and Clancy Brown as Rawhide. Other notable supporting roles are played by the great Vincent Shiavelli, Dan Hedaya, comedian Yakov Smirnoff, Breaking Bad’s Jonathan Banks, and Carl Lumbly.

Production designer J Michael Riva worked with Richter for two years to develop the look of Buckaroo Banzai which resulted in a blend of 80s fashion with an off-kilter approach to the alien designs. The lizard like Lectroids were inspired by an anthropologist’s theory of what dinosaurs would have looked like had the evolved like humnans. The Red Lectroids clothing was inspired by Russian utilitarian clothing. 

The spaceships differ from what audiences had come to expect from Star Wars and Star Trek and take on a much more organic appearance. This was also evident in the less polished look of the film which echoes the dystopian look of movies like Mad Max rather than the refined look of Star Trek.

Filmed in and around Los Angeles, Buckaroo Banzai was a challenge for the studio to release with copious scenes removed including an alternate opening featuring Jamie Lee Curtis as Buckaroo’s mother. Richter was constantly at odds with producer Bagelman whom he called an enemy of the entire movie. 20^th Century Fox was equally concerned about the marketing of the film which they could not figure out. In a move that would echo the last decade or so of studios at San Diego Comic Con, Fox began marketing Buckaroo banzai directly at Star Trek conventions. They showed clips and gave out branded headbands which are now collector’s items. There was no traditional marketing push for the movie aside from some ads in Marvel Comics. Even John Lithgow has stated he struggled to explain the story to people despite loving how complex and weird it was.

When it hit theaters on August 15^th, 1984, it was up against Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Ghostbusters, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. With competition like that, it should be no surprise that Banzai grossed less than half of it’s budget. With critics citing it as unintelliglble, how did it go from bomb to cult classic?

Buckaroo Banzai is the closest thing Hollywood has produced to England’s Doctor Who. Like the long-running BBC series, Buckaroo Banzai is a amalgam of dozens of genre staples combined with a blend of tones and styles. There are no direct jokes in Buckaroo Banzai and yet it is incredibly funny. Peter Weller is so damn cool in the title role that it is amazing to see just how different he is here as compared to his later roles in Robocop and recently in Star Trek Into Darkness. Ellen Barkin was at the height of her sexiness with Penny Priddy ranking as a sci-fi sex symbol to rival Carrie Fisher in Return of the Jedi. 

Like many cult classics from the 1980s, Buckaroo Banzai suffers from comparisons to Star Wars. Similar to George Lucas’ franchise, Buckaroo Banzai has deep roots in the serials of the 1940s and 1950s like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. But, rather than follow a straight forward genre formula, Banzai is absolutely a film about nerds and geeks made by nerds and geeks. The complicated jargon coupled with archaic special effects lends the film the feel of an independently produced feature rather than one coming from the same studio as The Empire Strikes Back.

There is not a lot of violence or sex in Buckaroo Banzai which lends the film a feeling of innocence that belies the fairly mature subject matter. This is a family friendly film that should appeal to kids and teens but with the pacing and tone of a more adult-centric story. Maybe it is that disconnect that prevented the film from finding a wider audience. But like those on the cutting edge of science or musicians invested in rock and roll, Buckaroo Banzai is indebted to everything that came before it even if it feels nothing else out there.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension is an unabashedly 1980s movie that looks dated four decades later. As we approach the movie’s ruby anniversary, there is finally a sequel in the form of a novel by Rauch titled Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League (which you can get here). Will they revive it? Who knows? We live in a world where Night Court got a revival, so anything is possible. This is the perfect chance to revisit this classic movie and revisit some of the best costumes and quotes you never knew you were missing.

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Most people knew nothing about Squid Game until the Netflix series exploded in popularity, but that certainly isn’t the case for season 2. All eyes are on the new season, which will find Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) returning to the arena as he attempts to take down the games from the inside. While speaking with GamesRadar+, Lee Jung-jae said he experienced a “sense of horror” returning to the world of Squid Game.

“Well, I actually didn’t know that I would reprise my role as Gi-hun,” Jung-jae said. “So when I knew that I was going to play Gi-hun again, I had mixed feelings, and I still remember the day when I first set foot on the game arena for the production of season two, and when I opened the door to the set, I felt this horror, this sense of horror.“

The actor continued, “All the memories of season one, playing those games with all my fellow cast, it all came back to me. And I could actually feel Gi-hun’s trauma once again. They were all just coming back to me like big, giant, gigantic waves. And I was thinking, ‘Wow, I’m actually setting foot on this set once again.’ It’s a moment and it’s a kind of feeling that I would never forget in my life.“

The official synopsis for the new season reads: “Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their vicious sport. Using this fortune to fund his search, Gi-hun starts with the most obvious of places: look for the man in a sharp suit playing ddakji in the subway. But when his efforts finally yield results, the path toward taking down the organization proves to be deadlier than he imagined: to end the game, he needs to re-enter it.” It’s been announced that a third and final season will bring the series to a close.

Hwang Dong-hyuk once again serves as director, writer, and producer of Squid Game season 2, with Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo reprising their roles from the first season. New cast members include Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Choi Seung-hyun, Roh Jae-won, Jo Yu-ri, and Won Ji-an.

Netflix is also moving forward with a second season of Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality series in which 456 players compete for a US$4.56 million cash prize by competing in challenges based on those in the series… although without all the death. There have also been rumblings that David Fincher is developing an English-language Squid Game series, but nothing has been confirmed. Squid Game season 2 will debut on Netflix on December 26th.

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David Lynch began smoking when he was just 8 years old, but the director has now been diagnosed with emphysema and tells People he relies on supplemental oxygen to get around, even if it’s just across the room.

“It’s tough living with emphysema,” Lynch said. “I can hardly walk across a room. It’s like you’re walking around with a plastic bag around your head.” Lynch added that he kept smoking for two years after his initial diagnosis in 2020 before he finally called it quits for good. “I saw the writing on the wall. and it said, ‘You’re going to die in a week if you don’t stop,’” Lynch said. “I could hardly move without gasping for air. Quitting was my only choice.“

It’s hard to picture Lynch without a cigarette in his hand, and he admits that it was a very important part of his life and creative process. “I loved the smell of tobacco, the taste of tobacco,” he said. “I loved lighting cigarettes. It was part of being a painter and a filmmaker for me.” While his health struggles are a “big price to pay,” Lynch says he doesn’t regret his decades of smoking: “I don’t regret it. It was important to me. I wish what every addict wishes for: that what we love is good for us.“

However, the disease is now keeping Lynch from doing what he loves most: making movies. “I love being on set,” he said. “I love being right there, able to whisper to people.” Lynch added that he hopes his experiences will be valuable to other smokers. “I really wanted to get this across: Think about it. You can quit these things that are going to end up killing you,” he said. “I owe it to them — and to myself — to say that.“

Despite the diagnosis, Lynch has previously said he doesn’t plan on retiring anytime soon and is hopeful that he could try directing remotely in the future. The director’s last major project was Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017. He directed all 18 episodes of the series and co-wrote the scripts with Mark Frost.

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Andor season 2 will bring the story of Cassian (Diego Luna) right up to the beginning of Rogue One, so we can expect to see a few familiar characters from the movie, including Ben Mendelsohn as Imperial Director Orson Krennic.

The new issue of Empire Magazine has put Andor season 2 front and center with a new image featuring Cassian (Luna), Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), and Krennic (Mendelsohn). Check it out below, as well as new images of Cassian and Krennic.

As Mendelsohn tells it, Krennic will be bumping heads with Dedra Meero (Denis Gough) in the new season. “If they didn’t see eye to eye, to me, it’s cute,” Mendelsohn said. “Dedra versus Krennic? I think it’s a bit of a mismatch. They’re all underlings to Krennic… They’re all going in one direction. The Empire, if you speak your mind, there are differences of opinion.”

Given that Krennic will be returning, some fans have wondered if Grand Moff Tarkin might be back as well, digitally resurrected once again. If Mendelsohn knows anything, he isn’t saying. “You know I can’t answer that,” he said. “And I delight in not being able to answer your question. It’s a beautiful thing.“

The new season will span the four years before the events of Rogue One, and Cassian still has a long way to go. “He’s a man fully committed to the Rebellion,” Luna said. “It’s someone who has to ascend. There’s a huge mountain for him to climb in order to [become] the guy we meet in Rogue One.” Luna added that we’ll finally find out how Cassian became buddies with K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) “From an audience perspective, they’ve probably made their own story about how Cassian and K-2 got to work together,” Luna said. “It tells you a lot about Cassian that his best friend is a droid. And a droid he had to reprogramme. But how did that actually happen and who was he before? Those questions are going to be answered.“

It was recently confirmed that Andor season 2 will debut on Disney+ on April 22, 2025.

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Deadline reports that Renny Harlin will direct The Beast, starring Samuel L. Jackson. In fact, Harlin is already halfway through the eight-week shoot in Madrid and Spain’s Canary Islands, and he wasn’t even the original director. James Madigan, second unit director on The Meg, was previously set to helm the action flick. No reason was given for his exit.

The Beast refers to the Presidential limousine, which is an impenetrable tank stocked with grenades, shotguns, armour plating, and bullet-and-bombproofing. In addition to Jackson, The Beast also stars Joel Kinnaman (Suicide Squad) and Guy Burnett (Oppenheimer). “When a militia of unidentified hostiles coordinates a coup against the U.S. presidency, the President (Jackson) uncovers the extent of The Beast’s highly classified offensive capabilities,” reads the synopsis of The Beast. “Separated from his wife, the President must learn to control The Beast — and the monster inside himself — in order to save his life, the life of Secret Service agent Taft (Kinnaman), and America.“

In a statement, Harlin said: “Sam is not just one of those screen icons, but also a dear friend, and joining forces for another action extravaganza has me inspired beyond belief. Joel Kinnaman is another magnetic talent and a good friend as well. Once in a while a new writer with a fresh voice comes along and Umair Aleem has given us a script bursting with original action, and characters who draw from a deep well of emotions. I know that this team is up to something truly special and ready to unleash The Beast.” Harlin memorably directed Jackson in Deep Blue Sea, one of my favourite shark movies.

Producer Keith Kjarval added, “Having been a fan of Renny’s classic films as far back as I can remember and now helping him reteam with Sam Jackson — who together created numerous audience pleasers — and then adding the stunning artist that is Joel Kinnaman, I have no doubt this film will become yet another classic from this duo.“

Harlin most recently directed The Strangers: Chapter 1 and is on post on Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of the slasher trilogy. We don’t know exactly when the second installment will drop, but a teaser trailer released last month said it was coming soon.

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Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Jeremy Piven (Entourage), Nick Wechsler (The Boys), Anthony Ingruber (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Aaron Glenane (Danger Close), Carlos Sanson Jr (Legacies), Ana Thu Nguyen (Mortal Kombat 2), Adolphus Waylee (Nautilus), Richard Brancatisano (The Messenger), Marcus Johnson (Talk to Me), and Jake Ryan (Savage, Underbelly) star in writer/director Luke Sparke’s upcoming sci-fi horror film Primitive War – and while we don’t have a release date for this one just yet, a featurette has just arrived online to give us a behind-the-scenes look at the making of it. You can check that out in the embed above.

An adaptation of Ethan Pettus’ sci-fi military book series, Primitive War is set during the Vietnam War and features American soldiers facing off with dinosaurs! The story follows an elite recon unit known as the Vulture Squad. In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War they are sent to an isolated jungle valley to uncover the fate of a missing Green Beret platoon. They soon discover they are not alone. Dinosaurs have been let loose in the jungles. 

Sparke is producing Primitive War under his Sparke Films banner, alongside producers Carmel Imrie and Carly Sparke, executive producer Geoff Imrie, and co-producer Alex Becconsall. The writer/director/producer had this to say about the project (which is said to blend action with survival-horror and war themes) when it was first announced: “This ain’t no walk in the park. I was captivated by the imagery surrounding Ethan’s book and the story it told. I’ve worked hard on capturing that essence but also the grittiness, horror aspects and military edge. My vision is to feel like the characters have walked out of the film Platoon and into the jaws of the greatest predators the planet has ever known.“

Pettus added, “I’m thrilled to see Luke’s interpretation of my work. I know his team is giving this project everything they’ve got.“

I haven’t read the books by Ethan Pettus, but Vietnam soldiers taking on dinosaurs sounds like the makings of an awesome movie to me. I’m looking forward to seeing how this one is going to turn out.

Are you interested in Primitive War? Take a look at the behind the scenes featurette, then let us know by leaving a comment below.

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As Ted Lasso once opined, “Don’t sell yourself short. If anything, sell yourself tall and get it altered later.” But for the loyal Ted Lasso fans, season three couldn’t even pretend to sell itself tall, leaving a taste that was far from being worthy of biscuits with the boss. Now, Jason Sudeikis is blowing the whistle on the haters, saying they lacked imagination and commitment for the third season of Ted Lasso.

Jason Sudeikis doesn’t think the viewers gave the third season of Ted Lasso a proper go, even saying they may have been a little too eager to judge rather than accept changes. “Much like live theater, the show, especially Season 3, was asking the audience to be an active participant. Some people want to do that, some people don’t. Some people want to judge—they don’t want to be curious.”

Objectively, season three of Ted Lasso is quite disjointed and contains a number of storylines that just didn’t need to develop as much as they were. We all love Keeley, but her strongest moments were always in and around the boys of AFC Richmond, not when launching her own firm. There are some strong episodes to be sure (“Mom City” and “Sunflowers” being the standouts), but overall it just lacked the magic that the first two seasons had. For what it’s worth, our own Alex Maidy gave it a 9/10 in his review.

Sudeikis continued his criticism of the Ted Lasso season three naysayers by adding, “I’ll never understand people who will go on talking about something so brazenly that they, in my opinion, clearly don’t understand. And God bless ’em for it; it’s not their fault. They don’t have imaginations and they’re not open to the experience of what it’s like to have one.” This – and many more stories – are highlighted in the new book Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way Into Our Hearts.

Despite the third season of Ted Lasso feeling like a yellow card to the fanbase, it could end up returning for a fourth. If so, I’ll definitely be there to cheer on the team, but am aware that the best times might be behind us.

What do you think? Does season three of Ted Lasso have more strong points than it’s given credit for? Or are we better off like a goldfish over it?

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Back in my day, we had daredevils like Evil Knievel and Super Dave Osborne. They’d defy death while entertaining crowds of cheering fans, risking life and limb for applause. I never wanted to be a daredevil, but I did appreciate their bravery and risk-taking approach to life. Jay Baruchel is a daredevil enthusiast, too, and he’s reuniting with Goon’s Michael Dowse for The Stunt Driver, an upcoming comedy about the daredevil stuntman Ken Carter.

According to Deadline, The Stunt Driver revolves around “The Mad Canadian” Carter, who “attempts to execute the boldest maneuver of his career during the 1970s, launching a rocket car off a 90-foot-high ramp across the St. Lawrence River. The stunt would have him jump from Canada into the United States, covering more than a mile.” The film “follows Carter’s quest to make his seemingly impossible dream a reality, chronicling his preparation for the jump and the absurd challenges he faces along the way.”

Jay Baruchel and Michael Dowse’s The Stunt Driver is inspired by the National Film Board of Canada’s 1981 documentary The Devil at Your Heels. Production kicks into high gear in Montreal in the spring.

“Ken Carter’s story speaks to anyone who has dreamed the impossible and been kicked in the teeth trying to achieve it. I couldn’t be more excited to work with my old friend Jay. Jay brings the perfect combination of comedy, belying great dramatic tension to this complex showman,” Dowse said about re-teaming with Jay Baruchel for The Stunt Driver.

Jay Baruchel recently played Carter in Nick Santora’s Fubar, an action comedy series starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a C.I.A. operative on the edge of retirement who discovers a family secret and is called back into the field for one last job. Meanwhile, his work is complete for Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks, a romantic comedy about a 24-year-old music critic who gets romantically involved with members of an indie band she decides to publicize, set against Montreal’s indie music scene in 2011.

Are you familiar with Ken Carter’s stunt work? You can watch footage from his final stunt on YouTube, but I must warn you, it’s disturbing. I’m sure Dowse and Baruchel have big plans for The Stunt Driver, and we’re curious to see how the project comes together.

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Under Paris, a shark thriller from genre regular Xavier Gens, was released through the Netflix streaming service on June 5th (you can read our review HERE) and turned out to have the best launch for a non-English language film on Netflix, drawing in more than 102.3 million views. So it’s no surprise to hear, via Variety, that a sequel is in development. Both Gens and star Bérénice Bejo, who received an Oscar nomination for her role in the 2011 silent film The Artist, are expected to return for Under Paris 2. Bejo has even been quoted as saying that the sequel would begin filming in September of next year, but Variety’s sources cautioned that the project is still in early stages and might not make it into production until 2026.

Under Paris was so successful, Gens was already being asked about a sequel just nine days after the movie was released. At that time, he told Variety, “Right now, as of today, we’re not on it but there’s a chance that we’ll be discussing it soon. If there is a sequel, it will take place in a Paris that is entirely submerged under water.”

Under Paris has the following synopsis: Set in the Summer of 2024, the film unfolds in Paris which is hosting the World Triathlon Championships on the Seine for the first time. Sophia, a brilliant scientist, learns from Mika, a young environmental activist, that a large shark is swimming deep in the river. To avoid a bloodbath at the heart of the city, they have no choice but to join forces with Adil, the Seine river police commander.

Bejo was joined in the cast by Léa Léviant of Mortel and Nassim Lyes of Overdose. Gens’ previous directorial credits include the films Frontier(s), Hitman, The Divide, The Crucifixion, Cold Skin, Budapest, and Mayhem!, plus episodes of the shows Mortel, Gangs of London, and Crossing Lines. Gens also directed the X is for XXL segment of the horror anthology The ABCs of Death.

Are you a fan of Under Paris, and are you glad to hear that Under Paris 2 is officially in the works? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Chart a course for adventure and hide your precious relics because Sophie Turn is negotiating to play Lara Croft in Prime Video’s Tomb Raider series from Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge. If Turner lands the coveted role, she’ll join Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander as actresses, bringing the legendary video game character to life in live-action. According to Deadline, they heard Sophie Turner aced her screen test, making her the obvious choice to play the ponytailed pottery smasher.

Speaking about the series, Amazon MGM Studios Head Jennifer Salke said Waller-Bridge’s adaptation is an “epic” and “globe-trotting” passion project that the studio is eager to tackle. Echoing Salke’s excitement, Waller-Bridge said, “If I could tell my teenage self this was happening I think she’d explode. Tomb Raider has been a huge part of my life and I feel incredibly privileged to be bringing it to television with such passionate collaborators. Lara Croft means a lot to me, as she does to many, and I can’t wait to go on this adventure. Bats’ n all.”

“God, it literally felt like that teenager in me saying: do right by her, do right by Lara,” Waller-Bridge said when Amazon approached her about the Tomb Raider series. “The opportunity to have, as we were talking earlier, a female action character…. Having worked on Bond and having worked as an actor on Indy, I feel like I’ve been building up to this. What if I could take the reins on an action franchise, with everything I’ve learned, with a character I adore, and also just bring back some of that ’90s vibe? And it’s such a wonderful feeling to think you know what to do.”

Before today, Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) and Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody) were in the running for the role. Turner appears to be the favorite, with wishlist names like Emma Corrin and Mackenzie Davis falling away from the competition.

Tomb Raider is steadily returning to the public consciousness with Netflix’s Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, a new game in development and possibly a new movie on the way. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the perfect creator to help bring Lara back to the limelight, and with Sophie Turner along for the wild ride, Tomb Raider fans could be eating well in the coming years. Let’s f**king go!

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