Stephen Merchant Joins ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ Sequel
The upcoming Girl With The Dragon Tattoo sequel has made another odd addition to its growing cast with the inclusion of British comedian Stephen Merchant.
Gathering The Troops
Merchant joins The Girl In The Spider's Web alongside the previously-confirmed additions to the cast. The Crown's Claire Foy will play the super-hacker Lisbeth Salander and Get Out's Lakeith Stanfield will portray Alona Casales.
The movie is produced by Sony, with the studio hoping it will relaunch the franchise started way back in 2011. Also slated to appear are Blade Runner 2049 standout Sylvia Hoeks, as Salander's twin sister, and The Square's Claes Bang as the villain.
Merchant is still best known for his comedy work with Ricky Gervais on the original incarnation of The Office. However, he took his first steps into serious movies with last year's Logan. He recently finished work on his directing debut Fighting With My Family, about WWE Superstar Paige, for which he also wrote the script.
Horror director Fede Alvarez, who helmed Don't Breathe and the well-received Evil Dead remake, is behind the camera for The Girl in the Spider's Web. The screenplay was co-written by Steven Knight, along with Alvarez and Jay Basu. The film is currently shooting on location in Berlin and Stockholm, with a scheduled Nov. 9 release date.
Caught In A Web
The Girl in the Spider's Web is the fourth book in David Lagercrantz's super-popular Millennium series, which he took over from series creator Stieg Larsson.
Interestingly, it's the first book in the series to be made into an English-language movie in its initial adaptation. Previous installments originated as Swedish-language movies, starring Noomi Rapace as Salander. The role was later played by Rooney Mara in the 2011 American remake, for which she earned an Oscar nomination.
David Fincher's super-dark movie was intended to launch a series, based on the books, to coincide with the Swedish versions. However, the long-gestating sequel The Girl Who Played With Fire was eventually canceled following major delays, which also saw Mara and co-star Daniel Craig exit the movie.
The Girl In The Spider's Web is set to pick up right where Dragon Tattoo left off. The film will follow Salander and co-conspirator Mikael Blomqvist, with Sverrir Gudanson taking over the role left open by Craig, once again. The two reportedly get twisted in the misdeeds of a group of nefarious spies, cybercriminals, and corrupt government officials.
