Alicia Vikander No Longer Attached to Lara Croft Role After MGM Loses Tomb Raider Rights

The future of the Tomb Raider movie series will be given a blank slate after MGM has lots the film rights to the video game franchise. After a pair of movies starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft was released years prior, Alicia Vikander took over the role in the Tomb Raider reboot released in 2018. Ever since, there have been plans to develop a follow-up film with Vikander reprising the part, though progress had been a bit slow to come along.

Now, it appears that Vikander’s Tomb Raider 2 has officially died in development hell. The Wrap reports that MGM has lost the film rights to Tomb Raider amid a bidding war. What ultimately cost the studio the rights was waiting too long to officially give Tomb Raider 2 the go-ahead. Officially, they had until May 2022 to greenlight Tomb Raider 2, and with that not happening, the rights expired, leaidng to various Hollywood studios putting in high-dollar bids to take over the movie series.

With MGM losing the rights, word is that the next Tomb Raider film will as a result be a total reboot with no relation to the previous movies. That of course means that Vikander is no longer attached to the role. The script written by Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green, who was attached to write and direct the sequel, has also been scrapped.

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Alicia Vikander Had Hoped to Return

This must be just as disappointing for Alicia Vikander is it is for fans hoping she would return for Tomb Raider 2. The actress had been vocal about her desire to return in recent years, though as the film’s lead actor, greenlighting the project was outside of her hands. Last year, Vikander seemed hopeful while remaining skeptical that the sequel would actually happen.

“Misha [Green] is about to … A script is coming in very soon,” she told Comicbook.com. “She’s extremely hardworking. And so, I can’t say anything, because like you said, [current circumstances] kind of put everything just up in the air. But yeah, I’m excited to read scripts and hope that it’s something that we’ll find a way to make.”

Vikander also probably saw the writing on the wall with the film rights in the air. Earlier this month, she again made it clear she’d have been happy to revisit the role of Lara Croft, but said that the rights had gotten tangled up in “politics” and that this would be someone else’s decision to make as far as bringing back Vikander to reprise the role.

“With the MGM and Amazon buyout, I have no clue. Now it’s kind of politics,” Vikander said, via Entertainment Weekly. “I think Misha and I have been ready, so it’s kind of in somebody else’s hands, to be honest. I’ve been excited to show the world. I love what she’s done with Lovecraft Country.”

There’s no word yet on who might be the next person to play Lara Croft on the big screen, but perhaps we will find out soon enough.