By ALISON BOSHOFF FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Published: 19:21 EDT, 3 April 2025 | Updated: 19:28 EDT, 3 April 2025
Phoebe Waller-Bridge's long-awaited, big-budget Tomb Raider TV series seems to have run into a wall — or should that be fallen into a trap?
After years stuck in development hell, with Waller-Bridge's scripts taking a long time to come — and then being judged not ready to shoot after all — sources say the idea of bringing Lara Croft to the small screen is 'dead'.
Certainly there are no signs of it being filmed 'in early 2025', which was the promise from a Prime Video executive last year.
And Game Of Thrones star Sophie Turner, who was reportedly in negotiations to play Lara Croft, is busy with other films for much of this year. 'I hear that it is not going ahead,' says a source.
A spokesperson for Prime Video had no comment; nor did representatives for Waller-Bridge.
The project was dealt a serious blow last week when Jennifer Salke, who gave Tomb Raider the green light and was personally overseeing the project, was booted from her role as the head of Amazon Studios.
Salke, formerly head of entertainment at NBC, signed Waller-Bridge to a staggering $20 million-a-year golden handcuffs deal back in 2019, when she was white-hot after Fleabag.
That deal, which is estimated to have netted the British star $100 milion, has become one of the most notorious flubs in Hollywood.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge poses during a photo call for the movie 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' in 2023
Pictured: Angelina Jolie is seen as Lara Croft/ Tomb Raider in 2001
It has resulted in not a single minute of broadcast content to date.
Waller-Bridge has taken on two acting roles over the past six years — in Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (for Disney), and in animated Paramount film If.
She was to have written and starred in a TV reboot of the film Mr And Mrs Smith, but quit in 2021. She wasn't even given a writing credit on the show, which eventually came out starring Maya Erskine and Donald Glover.
Notwithstanding all of the above, the handcuffs deal was renewed in 2022, and it was announced that Waller-Bridge was working on a big budget TV series based on the Tomb Raider video games.
Salke said in 2023: 'We're so happy now that we retained her because she grew up playing Lara Croft/Tomb Raider. We think it's going to be a huge franchise for us.'
The same year Waller-Bridge told Vanity Fair: 'The opportunity to have... a female action character... having worked on Bond [she polished dialogue on No Time To Die] and having worked as an actor on Indy, I feel like I've been building up to this.'
The first signs of serious trouble came last October when, as noted in this column, Waller-Bridge was not present at Amazon's Trailblazers event in London.
News website Puck's Matt Belloni reports Tomb Raider still doesn't have a script, despite 'millions' being poured into developing the idea.
Belloni also says Waller-Bridge's Amazon deal was quietly renewed before Salke departed, but it is now on a non-exclusive, first look basis; and for a fraction of the previous sum.
OMG! Kyle Walker's WAG woes continue... via text
Be careful when accepting an 'olive branch' — it may contain a thorn or two.
That was the lesson for footballer Kyle Walker's long-suffering wife Annie, who recently received an ostensibly friendly message from Walker's former girlfriend Lauryn Goodman.
Lauryn texted love rival Annie to ask for a meeting, and to suggest that their kids, by England star Walker, get to know each other. Annie has four children with Kyle, Lauryn has two.
News of this then somehow found its way into the newspapers.
What wasn't reported was that Lauryn also wrote of Walker: 'I can never trust what he's saying to you – after everything he's told me over the years about you.' Meow!
Lauryn Goodman attends Tulleys Shocktober Fest 2024 at Tulleys Farm in Crawley
Friends of Annie say that she is adopting a 'grey rock' approach: not responding to the text, in the hope that the lack of response will discourage further contact.
But a source said that privately, she regards this latest move as 'textbook harassment'.
They added: 'Annie got these texts while Kyle was on England duty. They reminded her of what Lauryn did when Kyle was playing for Man City on December 27, 2023, and she announced that he was the father of her daughter Kinara, as well as son Kairo.
'It's being painted as if Lauryn has the best interests of the family at heart, but Annie is appalled that she is dragging the children into it.'
And there are a lot of children in this convoluted affair.
Kyle fathered Kairo with Lauryn in 2020 – when he already had three kids with Annie (then Annie Kilner).
In 2021, he and Annie married – but the affair with Lauryn continued, and in August 2023, their second child, Kinara, was born.
Four months later, Annie – who was pregnant at the time – received that bombshell text: 'Hey it's Lauryn. I just wanted to quickly tell you that Kyle is the father of our daughter.'
The news prompted Annie to kick her husband out of the house.
Last spring, their fourth child – a son called Rezon – was born.
In the summer she filed for divorce. But by the autumn Kyle was back; and the pair spent Christmas together.
Lauryn texted love rival Annie (pictured) to ask for a meeting, and to suggest that their kids, by England star Walker, get to know each other
At the time, friends said legal action was on hold, while they tried to sort out their troubles, as a family.
Now that Walker has moved to Italy, where he is on loan to AC Milan, he and Annie are 'still working out' the best way forward, but they remain married and committed to raising their children together.
Forsyte: It's the gift that keeps on giving
There's plenty of faith in the continued pulling power of The Forsyte Saga.
Even before the first season of the latest adaptation has been broadcast, filming has already started on the second.
The new show — called simply The Forsytes — will be going out on Channel 5 later this year and stars Doctor Who's Millie Gibson as the beautiful Irene, the role made famous by Nyree Dawn Porter in the first TV tilt at John Galsworthy's novels back in 1967.
Poldark star Eleanor Tomlinson will play dressmaker Louisa Byrne; and Susan Hampshire — who was Fleur Forsyte in the 1967 drama — returns in the role of Lady Carteret.
Galsworthy's sweeping portrait of a wealthy British family in 1880s London was remade in 2002 by ITV, with Damian Lewis and Gina McKee in the cast.
The latest interpretation has been written by Poldark's Debbie Horsfield and is a PBS Masterpiece production.
Millie Gibson poses for a portrait to promote "Doctor Who" during Comic-Con International in July last year
Cinema owners brace for Beatles binge: four fab films in one day
Mutterings about the Sam Mendes Beatles films at CinemaCon.
My mole says that the audience of cinema owners in Las Vegas were not impressed by plans for the release of the individual films on John, Paul, George and Ringo... especially not the gossip floating around suggesting that Mendes intends to drop all four simultaneously, so audiences can enjoy a Beatles 'binge'.
My insider reveals: 'The cinema owners are reluctant to put four screens out of commission, at the expense of other movies which might have more box office potential.
'Also, what happens if some of the films are more popular than others? Multiple owners say that they can't see anyone forking out money to see the Ringo film.'
Sam Mendes, Joseph Quinn, Barry Keoghan, Harris Dickinson, and Paul Mescal attend CinemaCon 2025
Harsh!
However, there were cheers for the forthcoming Superman film, due out in July. Director James Gunn said proudly: 'This is a movie that celebrates kindness and human love.'
He has introduced a canine character – Superman's dog Krypto – and based the flying hound on his own late pooch.
A rescue dog, Ozu would run away from his master, destroy his furniture and, during conference calls, attack his feet.
Gunn mused that it made him think: 'What if my dog had super powers? I'd be f***ed.'
Jessie resurrects the Bride of Frankenstein
Jessie Buckley brings a Bonnie And Clyde vibe to The Bride!, in which she plays the wife – and partner in crime – of Frankenstein's monster (played by Christian Bale).
Buckley, who first found fame in the 2008 BBC talent show I'd Do Anything, arrived in Las Vegas this week for CinemaCon in dark glasses and high spirits.
After presenting an early peek at the film, in which she is brought back to life after taking a gruesome tumble down a staircase, she reflected on the twisted love story at the heart of the picture. 'It's the punkest love that's ever existed!' she said.
'It's like Bonnie And Clyde – and Wild At Heart. I think our one has some petrol in its skin, and we're holding a match beside it.'
Actor Jessie Buckley, promoting the movie "The Bride," poses during a Warner Bros. presentation at CinemaCon
Director Maggie Gyllenhaal has set the story, based on Mary Shelley's classic novel, in 1930s Chicago. And as for the tone? Well, the tagline runs: 'Here comes the mother f***ing bride.'
The film comes out in March next year.
BGT winner Sydnie Christmas is to go to LA to record with legendary songwriter Dianne Warren, who wrote number one hits for Cher, Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift.
Sydnie is already making inroads in America. Her debut album My Way reached No 1 in the US iTunes pop charts last autumn. And next week she makes her concert debut in New York.
Might McDonald's one day get a 'By Appointment To' crest?
The Queen's son Tom Parker Bowles is such a fan that he says his last meal on Earth would be... a Big Mac.
He told the Table Manners podcast: 'As a main course, I should say roast chicken or a Big Mac.
'The cheeseburger is about as perfect a creation as you could ever have. I love it.'
He added: 'I hate Burger King. I have no time for Burger King. I can do a zinger at KFC, Nandos I have a lot of time for.'
And to start his last supper? Food writer Tom says: 'Caviar. As much as I could eat.'
Party? I'd rather hide in the loo..
Adolescence writer Jack Thorne had better steel himself for awards ceremonies and parties — because they are probably coming his way, and they are not among his favourite things.
Speaking on the Headliners podcast, Thorne, 46, said: 'Nowadays I don't go to the after parties. I go to the [awards] dos and I do my bit. If I'm lucky enough, I'll make a speech. But then I leave.
Adolescence writer Jack Thorne speaks to the media on Downing Street on March 31
'I'm 46 and I'm very comfortable with who I am now,' he said, adding: 'I get invited to parties and I say: 'You know I won't come.'
Thorne recalled how he was asked to an after-party when he won a prize at the London Film Festival. 'I knew no one there,' he said. 'I ended up walking in, realising that I wasn't going to find anyone to talk to, and thought: 'Well, can I leave immediately?'
When he also realised that the answer to that question was No, 'I went to the toilet for an hour. And then I left.'
Phoebe Waller-BridgeAmazon