Tomb Raider series filming paused as Sophie Turner injured after back issues
Sophie Turner as Lara Croft (Image: Jay Maidment/Prime)
Production on Amazon MGM Studios’ Tomb Raider series has paused after Sophie Turner suffered what the studio described as a minor injury, with conflicting reports over how long filming will be halted.
Amazon MGM Studios told Deadline: “Sophie Turner recently experienced a minor injury,” adding: “As a precaution, production has briefly paused to allow her time to recover. We look forward to resuming production as soon as possible.”
The pause is reportedly expected to last two weeks, though conflicting reports suggest some crew fear it could be up to six months. It’s reported the crew will continue to be paid during the shutdown.
According to The Sun, a source close to the production said: “It’s been chaos on set and now the whole show is in jeopardy.” The source went on to suggest Game of Thrones star Turner “may have to be replaced altogether” but “so much has already been shot that it’s causing a real headache for producers”.
Sophie Turner to play Lara Croft in new series
Amazon MGM Studios announced the start of production on 15 January, releasing a first-look image of Turner as Lara Croft.
The series is filming primarily in the UK and is an adaptation of the video game franchise, with a cast that includes Sigourney Weaver, Celia Imrie and Jason Isaacs.
Turner has previously spoken about the physical demands of preparing for the role. On The Julia Cunningham Show, she said: “We’ve been doing eight hours a day, five days a week since February last year, of training. Yeah, so it’s been a lot.” She added: “I’ve learned I have a perpetual back problem, but I also realised that it’s much easier to kind of build muscle if you’ve ever worked out before in your life, which I never had, so it has taken me months and months and months to get into good shape.”
Turner rose to global fame as Sansa Stark in HBO’s Game of Thrones, and her casting as Lara Croft has drawn intense online attention, including the reaction to the announcement she was set to play Lara Croft. The series is led creatively by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who is creator, writer and executive producer, and co-showrunner alongside Chad Hodge.
Lara Croft the queer icon
Video game character Lara Croft is considered a queer icon among LGBTQ+ fans.
Given the nature of the adventure/action games, her love life is not an important theme. While there have been suggestions of romance with Lara Croft and some male characters in the Angelina Jolie movies, the character has never had a long term relationship.
Jackson Lanzing, who co-wrote Tomb Raider: Inferno, even revealed that they tried “so hard” to make the character explicitly queer. Sadly, a planned same-sex kiss was scrapped and replaced with a hug.
This has led some fans to speculate that Lara herself could be queer.
Either way, the character is popular particularly among queer women thanks to her strong, convention-breaking attitude and persona.
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