When Tomb Raider returned to the gaming world in 2013 with a reboot of the series by Crystal Dynamics, there were clear differences between the Lara Croft that we knew from the original titles and the new ones. The Survivor Trilogy, which along with the 2013 game includes Rise of the Tomb Raider and Eidos Montréal's Shadow of the Tomb Raider took a much more gritty and grounded approach with a much bigger focus on Lara's battle for survival. The original games were much more action-focused, giving players the chance to play as a badass, seasoned, and no-nonsense treasure hunter. While these two versions of the character and games seem very different, it has been announced that the upcoming Netflix anime series based on the Square Enix franchise will be attempting to bridge the gap between these two timelines.
In a video uploaded to the official Tomb Raider YouTube channel, writer and executive producer for the upcoming anime series, Tasha Huo, gave fans an update on what to expect in the series. The main focus of the update was to inform fans that both Netflix and Crystal Dynamics were working hard to take the timelines of the two series timelines and create a unifying bridge. The show will be taking place after the Survivor Trilogy and will give audiences a chance to see how the Lara that we have seen over the course of the last three games finally becomes the Tomb Raider that kicked the series off. Huo explained the union as:
"The Tomb Raider anime series from Legendary and Netflix will provide fans like you—and me—around the world with some of the first steps toward unifying the Tomb Raider timelines, as we transition beyond the Survivor Trilogy and start to follow Lara’s journey leading up to the first steps of that first Tomb Raider game."
She also announced that the first steps of bridging these two timelines will include introducing characters from both the Survivor Trilogy and the original series, with Earl Baylon returning as Lara's trusted friend Jonah Maiava from the new trilogy alongside Allen Maldonado as Zip, a character that fans will recognize from titles such as Tomb Raider: Chronicles, Tomb Raider: Legends, and Tomb Raider: Underworld.
The Tomb Raider anime series joins the ever-growing slate of animated video game adaptations on Netflix, such as Castlevania, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, and the upcoming League of Legends series, Arcane. The series was announced to have been ordered by Netflix back in January 2021 and will be animated by Powerhouse Animation, the studio responsible for the aforementioned Castlevania series as well as fellow Netflix anime series Blood of Zeus. Along with Huo, executive producers on the project include Dmitri M. Johnson, Stephan Bugaj, Howard Bliss, and Jacob Robinson.
While the Tomb Raider anime does not have an official release date yet, you can watch the announcement below: