GameStop Throws Shade At Sophie Turner’s Lara Croft
Earlier this week, Amazon revealed a first-look photo of Sophie Turner as Lara Croft in Prime Video’s upcoming Tomb Raider series. Video game adaptations are rarely fully embraced by franchise fandoms, but in this case, most reactions were generally positive. For all intents and purposes, Sophie Turner looks the part of the iconic archaeologist-adventurer.
Unfortunately, not everyone was on board. While some pushback from gamers is always expected, a controversial post from GameStop has landed the video game retail giant in a bit of hot water.
Quote tweeting IGN’s post, GameStop responded to the image: “This is not Lara Croft.”
This is not Lara Croft https://t.co/pEs909qo0k
— GameStop (@gamestop) January 15, 2026
There was no further explanation for why GameStop isn’t on board with the adaptation, but you don’t have to scroll far into the comments to get a sense of why the original poster is upset. As with nearly every Tomb Raider adaptation before this, the backlash mostly comes down to one thing: her appearance.
Unfortunately, Lara Croft isn’t just known for her intelligence and impressive survival skills. She’s also one of the most iconic-looking characters in video game history. In the early Tomb Raider games, her character design was exaggerated, featuring an unrealistic and oversexualized chest size.
Sophie Turner reflects the modern portrayal of Lara Croft, which reimagines the character with more realistic proportions. Today, she’s known primarily for her athleticism, intelligence, and adventurous spirit rather than her appearance. Turner perfectly embodies this updated take, though some critics, including those running GameStop’s account, aren’t happy.
The response to GameStop’s tweet has been mixed, but it’s encouraging to see so many people push back and call out the retailer’s outdated perspective. It’d be one thing if this were a random person on the internet, but this is the world’s largest video game retailer. They should be celebrating video game adaptations, not tearing down a young female actress with toxic takes. It’s disappointing, to say the least, to see the video game industry’s flagship retailer stoop so low.
Production on the Tomb Raider series is currently underway, but it’s not expected to premiere until 2027. Starring alongside Turner will be Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Martin Bobb-Semple, Jack Bannon, John Heffernan, Bill Paterson, Paterson Joseph, Sasha Luss, Juliette Motamed, Celia Imrie, and August Wittgenstein.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) is serving as creator, writer, executive producer and co-showrunner alongside Chad Hodge as co-showrunner and executive producer. Jonathan Van Tulleken will serve as director and executive producer.
