Netflix Drops First Looks at ‘Tomb Raider,’ ‘Devil May Cry’ Anime and New Series From ‘Logan’ Co-Writer Michael Green

Abbey White
·4 min read

Lara Croft is back in action in a first look at Legendary Television’s all new Tomb Raider anime series.

On Wednesday, Netflix revealed Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft has landed a 2024 release while debuting a brief teaser for the anticipated title. The sneak peek, which features Croft taking (breathy) aim with a bow and arrow, dropping into darkened caverns, and rising battered and bruised against a wall of fire, debuted as part of the streamer’s first ever DROP 01 event, a virtual showcase of its most anticipated animated genre offerings.

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Voice starring Agent Carter and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning actress Hayley Atwell, The Legend of Lara Croft was initially announced in January 2021 alongside Skull Island, another Legendary anime adaptation that dropped its first season in June. Based on the wildly popular action-adventure video game franchise launched in 1996, created by the British game developer Core Design, the anime will follow Croft’s Square Enix run, and is set after the events of the 2013 to 2018 video game reboot.

The Witcher: Blood Origin’s Tasha Huo is showrunner on the series, which is also produced by Crystal Dynamics and animated by Powerhouse Animation Studios, the company behind Castlevania. Huo is executive producing alongside dj2 Entertainment founder Dmitri M. Johnson, Howard Bliss, Stephan Bugaj and Tractor Pants’ Jacob Robinson.

Croft is one of gaming’s — and arguably, pop culture’s — most recognizable female protagonists. Her various adventures, which frequently involve puzzling-solving, fighting enemies and exploring hostile environments to acquire ancient artifacts, have spanned nearly 20 games, as well as comics and novels.

On the big screen, she’s led four films and has been portrayed by both Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander, with the latter taking on the role for a 2018 reboot and an anticipated sequel that was canceled last year. Croft also has a live-action TV adaptation on the horizon, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge at the helm for Amazon.

The Tomb Raider news was preceded by a slew of announcements about other upcoming series. That includes a very brief teaser for the streamer’s Devil May Cry adaptation — based on the Capcom action game created by Hideki Kamiya — and a look at Logan and Blade Runner 2049 co-writer Michael Green’s new adult animated series Blue Eye Samurai, which he co-created with Amber Noizumi.

Devil May Cry — from Capcom, Studio Mir and Castlevania producer Adi Shankar — expands Netflix’s video game-to-anime pipeline with an eight-episode series based on the franchise that debuted in 2001, and was first adapted in 2007 as an anime series. The show follows Dante, an orphaned demon hunter for hire who finds himself facing off against sinister forces working to open the portal between the human and demon realms.

Shanker, who is also billed as the series creator, is executive producing along with Hideaki Itsuno for Capcom and Seung Wook Lee for Studio MIR. Alex Larsen will write. “I’m honored that Netflix and Capcom have entrusted me to shepherd the Devil May Cry franchise,” Shankar said in a statement. “Alex Larsen and I love these characters. We are part of the fandom and vow to surpass the exceptionally high bar we set for ourselves.”

Green and Noizumi’s Blue Eye Samurai is described by the streamer as a world of “vivid adult animation with a live-action edge.” The story itself is set in Edo-period Japan and follows mixed-race master of the sword, Mizu (Maya Erskine) — considered an outcast and a monster — as she seeks to serve her revenge on the man who made her.

The more-than-a-minute first look at the adult animated series, which is set to debut Nov. 3, promises bloody (and breathtaking) action featuring Randall Park, Brenda Song, George Takei, Masi Oka, Darren Barnet and Christine Ko. Ming-Na Wen, Stephanie Hsu, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Harry Shum Jr., Mark Dacascos and Kenneth Branagh round out the voice cast.

Alongside early screenings of the first three episodes of Castlevania spinoff Nocturn, more trailers, clips, teaser art, casting news, a mobile game and date announcements were revealed during Wednesday’s Drop 01 event for titles like Sonic Prime, Shankar’s Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off and Masters of the Universe: Revolution.

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