Stieg Larsson took the world by storm with his Millennium trilogy featuring three novels called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. These novels were rapidly adapted for the big screen in Larsson’s native Sweden starring Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander. In 2011, David Fincher took it upon himself to recreate the film for an American audience. Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo featured a phenomenal cast, including Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, and Christopher Plummer. The film was subject to universal acclaim, winning a number of accolades for its perfection.

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Much of the success of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo can be chalked up to Fincher’s. Responsible for helping to create the gritty and horrifying atmosphere of the story, Fincher’s magic touch is part of what made the film so amazing. After its release, fans were bouncing on their toes awaiting the arrival of the rest of the trilogy. However, not all dreams come true. While another film has come out based on the same characters called The Girl in the Spider’s Web, Fincher had no part in the newest Millennium film. Questions that have crossed the mind of many fans is: if there were plans for a sequel, why didn’t Fincher want to direct The Girl Who Played With Fire?

Fincher Had Plans For a Sequel

     Sony Pictures Releasing

While many believed that Fincher intended for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo to be a standalone, that is not the reality. Per Collider (shortly after Dragon Tattoo came out), Fincher had initially planned to continue adapting Larsson’s Millennium series by completing the trilogy in its entirety. However, things did not go according to plan. While Fincher was in the process of creating a script for The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, the story continued to change and Fincher was quoted saying that the new films were “different from the book”. While continuing to work on the script for the trilogy, The Girl in the Spider’s Web was released and Sony stepped forward, making the executive decision to reboot the franchise rather than wait for Fincher and worry about completing the trilogy.

The Franchise’s Reboot

     Columbia Pictures

Sony’s decision to reboot the franchise was based on the popularity of the novel The Girl in the Spider’s Web, a novel related to Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, but not written by him. What’s more, initial reports of The Girl Who Played With Fire indicated that the film was initially meant to be a combination of The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest without Fincher’s involvement, as outlined by Slash Film. It was eventually decided that they would go for The Girl in the Spider’s Web featuring the same characters, but with an entirely new cast that included The Crown breakout actress Claire Foy as Lisbeth. This was a great disappointment to fans of Fincher’s film as any potential for a sequel had been torn out of the director’s hands.

Loss of Creative Freedom

     Columbia Pictures 

Much like any creative mind, Fincher enjoys having the freedom to do what he wishes with a story without being censored and confined by external forces. The decision made by Sony to scrap his project was done for a number of reasons, but the main two had to do with profit. Due to the fact that Fincher continued to change the script for The Girl Who Played With Fire, Sony began to grow impatient because they wanted to get a profit off of the film while the original was still fresh and relevant in the audience’s mind. After the release of The Girl in The Spider’s Web, Sony saw their opportunity to change directions and essentially told Fincher that they were taking the project in an entirely different direction. Sony’s choices robbed Fincher of his freedom to create the Millennium series to the best of his abilities.