What just happened? There's never been a better time for fans of animations based on video games. Netflix has revealed trailers for the new Tomb Raider and Devil May Cry shows. They're quite brief, especially the latter, but these initial glimpses look promising.
First announced in 2021, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft was unveiled during Netflix's Drop 01 livestream yesterday. The show is set directly after the excellent Survivor trilogy, which is made up of the 2013 reboot, 2015's Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider from 2018.
Netflix's version is produced by Legendary Television and Crystal Dynamics, developer of the games, while the animation is being handled by Castlevania's Powerhouse Animation. Tasha Huo, writer of The Witcher: Blood Origin, will be writing and executive producing the show.
The trailer also reveals that actress Hayley Atwell – Peggy Carter from Marvel's Agent Carter - will be voicing the iconic adventurer.
In addition to the Tomb Raider trailer, Netflix also revealed a teaser for another animated game adaptation: Devil May Cry. Adi Shankar, who worked as showrunner and executive producer on Castlevania, is the showrunner, with the animation provided by Studio Mir, the company that animated Legend of Korra and The Boondocks season 4.
The Devil May Cry animation was first announced way back in 2018. Shankar confirmed in 2021 that Vergil and Lady are two of the characters that will be in the show. It's also set to be eight episodes long and span multiple seasons.
There's very little to be gleaned from the 44-second trailer, which contains about 4 or 5 seconds of actual animation. The Doom-like heavy metal in the background is pretty catchy, though.
It also appears that Shankar is planning a crossover of Devil May Cry and Castlevania at some point. He previously said that the DMC animated show will "join Castlevania in what we're now calling the bootleg universe."
Not all video game TV adaptions, animated or otherwise, are well-received. While Arcane won an Emmy award, the live-action Resident Evil was canceled after one season. Shankar at least is a fan of DMC, having previously told IGN that he had "acquired these rights myself so the jabronis in Hollywood don't f**k this one up too."