‘Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ Sequel Officially Happening With Fede Alvarez, Gets 2018 Release Date
It’s been six years since David Fincher brought us his adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Since then rumors have surfaced about recasting Rooney Mara‘s Lisbeth Salander, sales have skyrocketed for the Stieg Larsson book series, and last fall we got word that Don’t Breathe director Fede Alvarez was in talks to join the sequel. Today brings news that the long-awaited sequel is officially happening.
News of the sequel was announced at the London Book Fair on Monday. The filmmaker officially confirmed he was joining the project to BuzzFeed and Sony told the site that the new movie will feature an “entirely new cast” (sorry Rooney Mara fans). A “global search” is currently underway to cast a new Salander. Alicia Vikander was rumored for the role back in 2015, but there’s no word on whether that will happen. Noomi Rapace originated in the role of the hacker in Niels Arden Oplev’s 2009 Swedish films before Mara took over for Fincher.
The film, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, will be based on the fourth novel in Larrson’s Millennium series (the studio is skipping past The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, though there were reports of rewrites on an adaptation of the former). It’s also an interesting choice for adaptation since it’s the only book in the series not authored by Larrson – after he died of a heart attack in 2004, David Lagercrantz penned the novel. In a statement to BuzzFeed Alvarez shared:
I’m hugely excited and grateful for this opportunity. Sony has become family to me, and I can’t think of a more thrilling project to celebrate our relationship. Lisbeth Salander is the kind of character any director dreams of bringing to life. We’ve got a great script and now comes the most fun part — finding our Lisbeth.
Fincher’s first movie followed Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), and while the fourth novel chronicles the two investigating “a ruthless underworld of spies, cybercriminals, and government operatives,” that won’t exactly be the case. Last fall co-writer Steven Knight revealed that the sequel will mainly follow Salander. “With The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the girl is really the central character,” he told Collider. “She’s the whole thing. It’s not really Blomkvist.”
Knight will co-write alongside Jay Basu, and Alvarez. Production kicks off in September and The Girl in the Spider’s Web will finally arrive in theaters on October 5, 2018.