Alicia Vikander is having an excellent year: After winning the best supporting actress Oscar for "The Danish Girl" in February, the starlet has just landed the plum role of Lara Croft in the upcoming "Tomb Raider" reboot.



Vikander beat out a bevvy of other actresses for the high-profile part, most notably "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" star Daisy Ridley. But according to Variety, Vikander was always filmmakers' top choice, and her casting announcement was merely delayed because studio MGM was awaiting a new version of the flick's script.



Landing an actress with so much buzz -- and awards cred -- is a huge coup for filmmakers, and a nice coincidence for the franchise: The previous actress to play Lara Croft, Angelina Jolie, also won a best supporting actress trophy (for 1999's "Girl, Interrupted") before she joined the series.



Accolades aside, Vikander's casting completes a key piece of the puzzle for the film franchise, which stalled out after the last Jolie-fronted outing, "The Cradle of Life," bowed in 2003. But thanks to a renewed interest in the video game source material (which itself was rebooted in 2013, featuring a younger Lara Croft), the movie series has gotten back on track. Now with Vikander officially on board, cameras can finally begin to roll.



The as-yet-untitled "Tomb Raider" reboot will be directed by Roar Uthaug. No release date has been announced yet.







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