[Update] Rise Of The Tomb Raider Live Action Mini-Series Is A Fan Production

Update: The live action Tomb Raider mini-series announced today is a fan production. Crystal Dynamics community manager Meagan Marie cleared up the details on the Square Enix forums.

"Hey guys! Jumping in to clarify - this is just a fan series," she writes. "Stephen [Lunsford] and Cambria [Edwards] are huge fans of Lara and Tomb Raider and are whipping something awesome up to pay tribute. We're happy to promote and give the project love just as we do with any other fan film!"

Edwards played Lara Croft in brief YouTube live action commercials alongside the reboot's launch in 2013. Lunsford shared a clarification, also.

"Let me re-phrase. This is not an officially licensed Tomb Raider production," he says. "This is currently a unofficial production created by fans for the fans of the Tomb Raider franchise. We are however working with Crystal Dynamics to bring the most accurate representation of the character and the Tomb Raider universe! Looking to film this May! Will update soon."

Thanks to reader TheArcaneHuntress for alerting us to the updated information.

Original Story:

Crystal Dynamics and actor/director Stephen Lunsford are teaming up for a live-action series to coincide with Rise of the Tomb Raider. Lunsford announced the project via Twitter today.

“I’m happy to announce that I will be creating a #TombRaider mini-series to be released with Rise of The Tomb Raider,” Lunsford writes. “This will act as a prequel to the game and eventual movie. We are currently in pre-production and working hard to make sure this becomes the best live-action iteration of Lara Croft yet. Thank you to Crystal Dynamics for all of your support and I can't wait to make this a reality. I will have updates as the project progresses.”

Lunsford also wrote and directed a number of short YouTube commercials coinciding with the release of 2013’s Tomb Raider. He’s previously appeared in MTV’s recent Teen Wolf series, and has directed and written other shorts. 

Rise of the Tomb Raider was announced at E3 and confirmed as an exclusive for Microsoft’s Xbox consoles at Gamescom. Yesterday brought news that Microsoft will be handling publishing responsibilities, with Square Enix confirming that the deal “has a duration.”

We’ve reached out to Square Enix for more details on the project. We’ll update should we receive a response.

[Source: Stephen Lunsford on Twitter via Polygon]

Our Take
If given the proper time and care, a Lara Croft-focused series would be most welcome. Rhianna Pratchett’s writing for the first entry was top notch, giving Lara more personality and character than she’s ever had. Translating that into a prequel (and the movie announced in 2011) could be a great extension of the game series. The new Lara is a much different character than the one played by Angelina Jolie years ago.