Sony's 2011 adaptation of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo earned one Oscar win, four more nominations (including one for Best Actress: Rooney Mara), and a worldwide box office of almost $233 million. Despite the fact that David Fincher's film was just the first adaptation in Larsson's Millennium Trilogy of novels, Sony has opted not to move forward with the follow-up book "The Girl Who Played with Fire" next, deciding instead to reboot the franchise with David Lagercrantz's continuation of the series, The Girl in the Spider's Web.

We previously reported that Sony would be moving ahead with this fourth book as their second film. However, as THR reports, stars Mara and Daniel Craig will not be returning for the film. That's not to say that Lisbeth Salander won't appear since the title hacker character is still front and center in the continuing stories; as reported, Fincher won't be back at the helm either. Sony has an option on Craig for two sequels, but couldn't make the numbers work since the actor wanted a pay raise while the studio was demanding a much lower budget than the $90 million The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

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Image via Warner Bros.

Instead, as The Wrap now reports, it sounds like Alicia Vikander might be stepping into the computer-savvy shoes of Salander as a replacement for Mara. Since her appearance in the 2012 film A Royal Affair, Vikander's star has been on the rise, starring in such high-profile pictures as Bill Condon's The Fifth Estate, Alex Garland's sci-fi flick Ex Machina, and the upcoming Bourne movie opposite Matt Damon. She can currently be seen in Burnt and will next appear in The Danish Girl. Hopefully we'll hear more confirmation on Vikander's status in the near future as Sony is currently locking down a script.

The studio spent mid-seven figures for Steven Zaillian's The Girl Who Played with Fire script, so they're certainly still keeping that picture in their pockets, but the plan is to tackle The Girl in the Spider's Web next. Moving forward with a total franchise reboot, Sony has tapped Oscar-nominated screenwriter Steven Knight to adapt the recently published internationally best-selling novel. Here's a look at its synopsis (via Amazon):

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Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist Return

 

She is the girl with the dragon tattoo—a genius hacker and uncompromising misfit. He is a crusading journalist whose championing of the truth often brings him to the brink of prosecution.

 

Late one night, Blomkvist receives a phone call from a source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female superhacker—a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering. Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for Millennium, turns to Salander for help. She, as usual, has her own agenda. The secret they are both chasing is at the center of a tangled web of spies, cybercriminals, and governments around the world, and someone is prepared to kill to protect it . . .

 

The duo who captivated millions of readers in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest join forces again in this adrenaline-charged, uniquely of-the-moment thriller.

The saga surrounding Larsson's novels and their adaptations continues to have real-world twists and turns that are worthy of the fictional plots themselves. Larsson passed away in 2004 and it was only after his death that his completed but unpublished novels were discovered. The first trilogy, complete with its infamous title changes and translations, went on to achieve international best-selling status. Larsson's partner reportedly has roughly three-quarters of a fourth novel and synopses or manuscripts for a fifth and six novel, but The Girl in the Spider's Web wasn't written with any of that material in hand. Instead, a Swedish publisher hired Lagercrantz back in 2013 to continue the series. Since this new book has quickly achieved best-seller status since its August release, and there are two more novels on the way, perhaps Sony will land a more timely and long-lasting series of adaptations this time around.

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