2009’sThe Girl With the Dragon Tattoomarked author Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy’s first foray into live-action, and although there have been efforts that followed, Amazon’s upcoming TV show stands a much better chance of achieving something the franchise has so far failed to do. Currently standing at 5 movies, the saga has already been rebooted and reimagined more than once, soAmazon’s take on the iconic crime thriller book series must break the streak of dead ends. If not, the franchise’s curse will seem even more prominent.
AlthoughAmazon’sThe Girl With the Dragon Tattooshow has been confirmed, there’s little available information about the project. That being said,Veena Sub has been named the showrunner, andSud has teased what her take onDragon Tattoowill look like. Unfortunately, there’s still no word on who will be added to the list ofactresses who have played Lisbeth Salander, but that will surely change some day soon. Regardless, however long said actress plays Larsson’s punk-rock hacker will depend on the show’s quality, and the longevity of previous live-action adaptations has been an ongoing issue.
Amazon’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Show Can Finally Make It Past Book 4 In The Millennium Series
2018’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web brought the American movie franchise to halt
Sadly,Stieg Larsson passed away in 2004 at the age of 50, shortly after submitting the manuscripts for the first three books in the Millennium series - with franchise-starterThe Girl with the Dragon Tattooserving as the first installment. As such, these books, known collectively as the Millennium trilogy, are the only installments penned by Larsson himself. After that, several sequels have been contributed by different writers. The fourth book, David Lagercrantz’sThe Girl in the Spider’s Web, was published in 2015. Unfortunately, it’s still the furthest into the timeline the live-action adaptations have reached.
SinceThe Girl in the Spider’s Webwas published, the saga’s name has been updated to be known as the Millennium series rather than the Millennium trilogy.
Since then, more books have been published, but the live-action branch of the franchise has been inert.Development on the Amazon show has been slow-going, but trepidation makes sense given past failures. It’s too early to know if the upcoming adaptation will succeed, or how long it will run for. That being said, the format of a TV show would allow the nuanced story of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist to breathe far more naturally. If it thrives and continues to do so, there’s no reason why book five or beyond can’t finally be brought to the screen.
The US movies attempted what the Swedish efforts didn’t dare to approach
The Swedish movies made the first three books into a live-action trilogy, and they were all released in 2009. The cast and crew never attempted to continue the story beyond book three,The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. In 2011, Director David Lynch made an English-language version of the first book starring Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist, but a true sequel never materialized. Instead, a soft sequel was made. It skipped two books and overhauled the cast and crew whenThe Girl in the Spider’s Webbecame a movie in 2018. It flopped, and more films never happened.
2007’sThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’nest remained the final Millennium book untilLagercrantz’s first sequel arrived in 2015. Given the 8-year gap between installments, it makes sense why the Swedish movies never continued. Many of the characters would have needed recasting, so another sequel would have felt very different to the first three movies. However, it’s a little less clear why Daniel Craig and David Lynch didn’t make anyDragon Tattoosequels. It was a franchise ripe for the taking, but despite initial interest from Sony to continue adapting the trilogy, the underwhelming reboot forSpider’s Webmade that impossible.
Why Going Beyond The Original Millennium Trilogy Is Still A Risk For Amazon
Larsson’s books became posthumous triumphs & sequels haven’t quite hit the same standard
The original trilogy is still highly revered as the franchise’s best era. Althoughnon-Larsson sequels have still sold well, part of their success has been due to their connection to the first three books and the acclaim they received. Therefore, venturing beyond the first three books still stands the chance of Amazon’s adaptation grinding to a halt in terms of its quality due to the source material it’ll eventually be based on.
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To many fans, thenon-Larsson novels are almost like optional reading. They’re still rewarding adventures, but they fall short of the high standards established by the original author. Of course, many watching the new show will be unaware of the books' events, so the overall story will be completely new to them, and they will have an unbiased view of the Larsson era compared to the eventual sequels. Unfortunately, only time will tell how Amazon’s take onThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoowill perform and/or progress.
