The 2011 Sony adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a pedigree built for success. Directed by David Fincher, the film was based on a very popular worldwide book series, and had James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, as well as up and coming actress Rooney Mara starring. This was basically considered a guaranteed hit out the gate, so much so Sony had Fincher move forward working on the script for the sequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire. But with contract disputes with Daniel Craig, among other things behind the scenes happening, the sequels seemingly stalled out. Fincher remained optimistic, being quoted back in September, that he thought the film could happen:
I think because (Sony) already has spent millions of dollars on the rights and the script, it will result in something. The script that we now have has huge potential. I can reveal that it is extremely different from the book.
But now it seems the final nail in the coffin for the potential follow ups has finally been hammered in, as Rooney Mara has now said she believes the films are dead. In a conversation with E! this week, Mara expressed what many fans have been fearing: the sequels weren’t moving forward:
I don’t think it’s going to happen. I’m sad never to do it again, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards.
While Sony hasn’t officially announced anything, if anyone would know what’s going on with the film, it would be Mara. She was the lead of the film, garnering quite a bit of praise for her take on Lisbeth Salander. It’s really too bad that the sequels have fallen by the wayside. The first film didn’t do colossal business, given it was an adult thriller opening on Christmas, but it still did respectable numbers. It was great to have a franchise aimed more at adults than teenagers, and I was really looking forward to seeing where Fincher would go with the sequel.
Sony really is quite lost in turmoil right now, so maybe somehow they’ll find a way to get Fincher, Craig, and Mara back on board to finish the series. Right now, the possibilities seem slim, but anything can happen. It wasn’t that long ago that we believed that Sony would never make a deal with Marvel to get Spider-Man into the MCU, and look how that turned out. We’ll have to wait and see what comes of this, but for now, fans of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will have to be happy with what they have, because we may not see a sequel.