Warning: SPOILERS below for The Girl in the Spider’s Web!
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Now that The Girl in the Spider’s Web has rebooted the adventures of Lisbeth Salander, what can audiences expect from its sequel? The espionage thriller directed by Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe) is set after the events of David Fincher’s remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Now played by Golden Globe-winner Claire Foy (The Crown), Salander has transformed into an action heroine taking on a shadowy criminal organization called the Spiders, led by her sister Camilla (Sylvia Hoeks).
Lisbeth begins The Girl in the Spider’s Web as a lone, avenging vigilante known in Stockholm, Sweden as “the girl who hurts men who hurt women.” By the time she faces down Camilla and the Spiders, Lisbeth is backed by a supporting cast including Sverrir Gudnason as journalist Mikael Blomquist, LaKeith Stanfield as NSA security expert Edwin Needham, and Cameron Britton as Plague, Salander’s fellow hacker and tech guru. By the end of the film, Lisbeth has everything she needs to continue her new mission of saving those in need.
Considering how everything ended, there will surely be interest in a Girl in the Spider’s Web sequel, so what can people expect from the sequel and when will it likely release?
Will The Sequel Adapt The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye?
The logical next step would be to adapt the fifth book in the Lisbeth Salander saga, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, which was written by David Lagercrantz, who also penned The Girl in the Spider’s Web novel. Sony Pictures opted to skip the next two books of the “Millennium Trilogy” written by the late Stieg Larsson, who created the series, and adapt the continuation novel by Lagercrantz instead. So, it would make sense to stick with forging ahead and basing the sequel on Lagerscrantz’s next book.
However, The Girl in the Spider’s Web deviates significantly from the novel and ends with Lisbeth in a very different place in her life than what Lagercrantz wrote, so a sequel based on the fifth book would likely be even more of a departure, story-wise. This could be advantageous since the new direction of the franchise turned Salander into more of a James Bond-like action hero. But, given the set-up with Lisbeth and Camilla, it’s also possible the next film could backtrack and adapt Larsson’s second novel, The Girl Who Played With Fire, which details Lisbeth’s tragic backstory and her crime lord father, who becomes her arch enemy.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web Sequel Hasn’t Been Greenlit (Yet)
The Girl in the Spider’s Web has just been released but delivered a disappointing $8 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office. Another Lisbeth Salander film would depend greatly on Spider’s Web’s overall financial performance. 2011’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo also underperformed at the box office, which led the studio to wait several years until rebooting the franchise. However, Spider’s Web’s budget was only $43 million, so it’s less of a risk than David Fincher’s film, which had a budget of $90 million but only earned $102 million domestic.
Helping the franchise’s chances to continue is the fact that the novels by Larsson and Lagercrantz continue to be popular and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo franchise is known worldwide. So, even though Spider’s Web isn’t a blockbuster and Sony hasn’t greenlit a sequel, it stands to reason that another film will be made eventually to further capitalize on this well-known property.
When Will The Next Lisbeth Salander Movie Be Released?
If Sony gives a new Lisbeth Salander film the greenlight, it likely wouldn’t hit theaters until 2020 at the earliest. The Girl in the Spider’s Web mounted production in fall 2017 and shot from January to April 2018 to make its November 9 release date. Depending on whether Fede Álvarez and the cast return, a similar production turnaround would require the same timeframe. However, a 2020 release would place Lisbeth Salander’s next film in the same year as Bond 25 - that would be a fascinating movie showdown for fans of the two international action franchises.
