Over the years, Lara Croft has showcased all manner of talents, from Olympic gymnast-level acrobatics to a serious nose for treasure. Still, pro wrestling is a new one to add to Lara's increasingly overflowing repertoire.
Yes, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft sees the intrepid explorer pull out a selection of familiar (and hard-hitting) wrestling moves across the first season, including suplexes, slams, and more.
That's all down to showrunner and creator Tasha Huo, a self-proclaimed wrestling fan who reinvented Lara's fighting style in the Netflix series so she could lay the smackdown with the best of them.
"If I can get her to do a [Stone Cold] Stunner, then that'll be the highlight of my life," Huo jokes to 12DOVE in reference to the trademark finishing move of Stone Cold Steve Austin, while also asking fans to pay attention to a moveset that was "definitely" inspired by her love of WWE.
But it's not just a wrestling pedigree – or should that be Pedigree? – that Lara has in her locker. Huo points to Lara's new fighting style as a Swiss Army Knife-of-sorts, a malleable skillset that informs her character and history – while adapting to any situation she's in.
"I think Lara has every sort of martial arts available to her," Huo says. "We know from canon that she was a bouncer, so I wanted her to have that brawler attitude to her and that ability. But she's also a gymnast; she's incredibly graceful; she knows boxing."
Huo continues, "When we talked about the action sequences, sometimes I'd be very specific – like, 'this is a suplex' – but really it was just trying to lean into all the varieties of martial arts that she knows. I think that's what's so unique about her as an action star: she has everything at her disposal; elegance as well as brutality."
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is currently streaming on Netflix.
For more, check out our interview with Lara Croft actor Hayley Atwell, where the Mission: Impossible star outlines how the Netflix series aims to create a "more complicated" Lara Croft. Then dive into our picks for the best shows on Netflix.
