Claire Foy is confirmed to be playing Lisbeth Salander in Sony Pictures' upcoming adaptation of The Girl in the Spider's Web. The studio had hired David Fincher to adapt the first installment in Stieg Larsson's Millennium novel series, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, starring Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. The film released in 2011 and was generally well received. In addition to grossing more than $232 million at the worldwide box office, Mara garnered her first Oscar nomination for her role as Salander.
Fincher had initially stated his intention to film the last two installments in the trilogy -- The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest -- back-to-back, with Craig and Mara reprising their roles in both sequels. Unfortunately, various reasons contributed to the sequels' delays and, eventually, the prospect of the director and the actors returning for another installment dwindled. Instead, Sony Pictures has decided to push forward with The Girl in the Spider's Web, an adaptation of the fourth novel in the Millennium series by David Lagercrantz, directed by Fede Alvarez (Don't Breathe). Furthermore, the sequel/reboot will feature an entirely different cast.
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Claire Foy, who is perhaps most well known for her role as young Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix's drama series, The Crown, was reportedly circling the role of Lisbeth Salander earlier this year. Sony Pictures has now been confirmed her for the role, thus making Foy the third actress to play the character, behind Mara and Noomi Rapace, who played Salander in the Swedish-made Millennium trilogy. Here's what the director had to say on Foy's casting:
“I couldn't be more thrilled about Claire taking the reins of the iconic Lisbeth Salander. Claire is an incredible, rare talent who will inject a new and exciting life into Lisbeth. I can't wait to bring this new story to a worldwide audience, with Claire Foy at its center.”
The Girl in the Spider's Web has been scheduled for release next October -- seven years after the last installment hit theaters. While it's great that another chapter in the Millennium series will finally be coming to theaters, fans of Fincher's film may be disappointed to learn that Craig and Mara, as well as Fincher himself, won't be returning for the next movie. Seeing as Sony Pictures wants to keep the film's 2018 release date, it would be difficult for Fincher to direct the movie since he's currently knee-deep working on World War Z 2. Then, Craig will soon dive into his final go-around as James Bond in Bond 25 and Mara has no shortage of films on her plate.
If the upcoming Spider's Web film is successful enough -- both critically and commercially -- it stands to reason that Sony Pictures would want to move forward with an adaptation of the fifth installment in the Millennium series: The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, also written by Lagercrantz. But, we'll just have to wait and see what happens when Spider's Web hits theaters next October.
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Source: Sony Pictures
