Sony’s Columbia Pictures has hired Don’t Breathe director Fede Alvarez to helm an adaptation of The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the fourth installment in the best-selling Millennium series that began with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and chronicles the adventures of Swedish hacker Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist. The Girl in the Spider’s Web will feature a different cast from that of David Fincher’s 2011 adaptation of Dragon Tattoo. It will also be the first book in the series to be adapted as an English-language movie before it was turned into a Swedish film.
The official announcement of the Spider’s Web adaptation isn’t entirely clear about whether it will pick up after the events of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo or completely reboot the movie franchise’s continuity. What is for certain is that the studio will be searching for a new actress to replace Dragon Tattoo star Rooney Mara as Salander. (The character was played by Noomi Rapace in the original, Swedish adaptation of the trilogy.) Alvarez will direct the film from a script penned by Steven Knight (Taboo, Peaky Blinders).
Released in the U.S. in September 2015, the novel The Girl in the Spider’s Web is the fourth chapter of the Millennium series and the first not authored by the late Stieg Larsson, who created the series. The story penned by David Lagercrantz has Salander and Blomkvist crossing paths with U.S. intelligence organizations after a hacker uncovers damaging information about the National Security Agency.
Filming on The Girl in the Spider’s Web is expected to begin later this year, with a release date planned for late 2018.
The previous English-language adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo starred Mara and Daniel Craig, and earned $232.6 million worldwide. The four books in the series have collectively sold more than 86 million copies worldwide.
In announcing the adaptation of Spider’s Web, Columbia Pictures President Sanford Panitch called Lisbeth Salander “one of the greatest female literary characters of all time,” and credited Alvarez for his “talent and skill in creating psychological intensity [that] will bring Lisbeth Salander back into popular movie culture with a roar.”
The Girl in the Spider’s Web is scheduled to hit theaters October 5, 2018.
