'I texted Sophie Turner and said me too!' Alix Wilton Regan on becoming Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
Some legends are destined to be retold, and Alix Wilton Regan will be doing just that in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis.
The English actor — who’s well known in gaming circles for her roles in Dragon Age: Inquisition, Assassin’s Creed Origins and many more memorable titles — landed the iconic role of Lara Croft in this glossy 2027 remake of the original 1996 Tomb Raider adventure, but only after a lengthy casting process.
"We did four rounds of auditioning across six to eight months," Wilton Regan told us at the Summer Game Fest conference in Los Angeles back in June.
She added: "Every time I got a call back, I was like, ‘Oh I want it even more now’.
"And the thing that was hard with the callbacks, with the auditions, was that you don't want to want it so much that you choke it to death, that you kind of choke all of your creativity.
"You know, you have to be able to stay loose and stay flexible, which I think I did because I got the job in the end."
Interestingly, Wilton Regan is already on texting terms with Sophie Turner, who will play the same character in Amazon’s upcoming Tomb Raider TV series.
On connecting with her live-action counterpart, Wilton Regan said, "I was actually cast before Sophie, is my understanding, but Sophie was announced before I was.
"So Sophie got announced in the press and I remember talking to her and being like, ‘I am so happy for you with your role.’ She's like, ‘Oh, me too. Thank you so much’.
"I obviously couldn't say anything because I was heavily NDA-ed by Amazon and Crystal Dynamics, understandably so.
"And then, in December 2025, the trailer drops, I'm announced. So, I immediately texted the team. I was like, ‘Can I please now message Sophie?’
"And they said, ‘Yes, of course you can.’ I texted Sophie and I was like, ‘You know how you're playing Lara Croft?’
"She's like, ‘Yes.’ I’m like, ‘I am too.’ And then every message she sent back was just capital letters.
"‘ALIX, OH MY GOD, I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS. THIS IS WILD.’ And I was like, ‘I know.’
"So, we will go for coffee at some point when we're both wrapped on our respective projects and dissect and swap stories and so on and so forth."
Looking back on her early days in role, Wilton Regan told us, "Once I was cast, I rewatched all of the movies and I watched the animated series and I rewatched Camilla Luddington's cutscenes from the Survivor trilogy, and I had these wonderful in-depth meetings with the creatives at Crystal Dynamics and Amazon.
"I just really wanted to understand what era of Tomb Raider we were moving into, and I really wanted to understand how they saw Lara moving forward, and I wanted to make sure I had a proper grasp on that basically."
And what were the answers to those questions she was asking?
In Wilton Regan’s words, "They were very clear that we were going back to Lara's core, that we were entering classic Lara territory, that they wanted that sass, that confidence that, for example, Angelina Jolie portrays so well on screen, and I felt very inspired by that.
"It was a very clear iteration of what they were looking for, and it also just suits my personality as Alix quite well. So it's been a lot of fun to play her."
Another interesting factor at play here is that Wilton Regan has actually been cast in two games - first will be 2027’s Legacy of Atlantis, and then a second game will follow called Tomb Raider: Catalyst, picking up the action much later in Lara’s career.
"Production for both is still ongoing," Wilton Regan explained. "We're still working on both titles. We're still indulging in both adventures.
"I cannot wait for people to play this and remember why they love the Tomb Raider franchise so much, and then for us to offer up Tomb Raider: Catalyst.
"I really think people are going to be inspired, invigorated, and just fully immersed in the franchise again.
"And for my money, I've never seen the writing this good. You know, the writing is sensational. So, I genuinely believe people are going to love it."
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis launches 12 February 2027. You can pre-order your copy now.
Read more:
- Tomb Raiders: All 10 actors who've played Lara Croft
- Why Tomb Raider’s worst-received game desperately needs a remake
- I wrote the book on Tomb Raider - here's how Sophie Turner and Alix Wilton Regan will rewrite Lara Croft's history
- "We were sick of Lara Croft and wanted to kill her" - Tomb Raider book reveals dark chapter from 1999
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