New Tomb Raider trailer includes a throwback to classic PlayStation era (update)

The first trailer for Warner Bros.’ live-action Tomb Raider trailer reset the era of Lara Croft on the big screen, but not entirely.

The last scene of the trailer has Alicia Vikander’s Croft holding up dual pistols and rocking braided hair, a throwback to Angelina Jolie’s version of the character that she portrayed in 2001’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider and 2003’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life. Jolie’s character was based on the original Croft designed by Core Design for PlayStation in 1996.

Warner Bros.

Although Warner Bros.’ new Tomb Raider is based on Square Enix’s 2013 and 2015 games, Croft never returns to the braid or the skintight suit in either of Square’s games, making the call to throwback to the original era a little disorienting.

While Croft never returns to the braided hair, she does get her own set of dual pistols. In a very short cinematic sequence at the end of the game, while fighting Roth, Croft gets her hands on a pair of pistols that she uses to defeat her adversary.

Square Enix

The guns in the game are different from the two-tone compensated HK pistols Jolie uses in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. That said, the pistols Alicia Vikander’s Lara Croft are holding are remarkably similar to Jolie’s pistols, seen in the photo below.

The scene in question has people asking when it occurs in the movie. For the majority of the trailer, Croft is in the white tank and pants based on her costume in the game. Is her new look part of a scene that will occur at the end, signaling a sequel? Or is it part of an earlier scene where Croft tries on a variety of outfits before settling on the 2013 version of the costume, including the throwback as a winking joke for fans of the franchise?

It’s impossible to tell for certain, but it certainly appears to fit all the requirements for an end-of-movie sequence that could lead to a sequel if Warner Bros. wants to turn this into a franchise.

Tomb Raider will be released on March 16, 2018.

Correction: The article previously stated that Square Enix designed the original Lara Croft in 1996’s Tomb Raider. That game was published by Eidos Interactive; Square Enix did not acquire the Tomb Raider brand until it bought Eidos in 2009. We’ve edited the article to reflect this.