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 GamesRadar+ 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.
