With shooting already underway, director Fede Alvarez has added two more names to his The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo sequel, The Girl In The Spider's Web. Stephen Merchant and Norwegian actress Synnøve Macody Lund are now aboard.
They join a cast that already includes Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, Sylvia Hoeks, Lakeith Stanfield and Cameron Britton in the film, adapting the latest Lisbeth Salander novel, albeit not one written by original author Stieg Larsson. Penned instead by David Lagercrantz with continuity to both Larsson's writing style and his characters in mind, Spider’s Web sends Dragon Tattoo’s odd-couple pairing of hacker Salander (Foy) and seasoned journo Mikael Blomkvist (Gudnason) on new misadventures. This time they’re faced with a ruthless web of espionage, cybercriminals and high-level villainy, plus the usual serious threats. Alvarez worked on the latest draft with Jay Basu, itself based on contributions from Steve Knight, and he's been busy filming in Berlin and Stockholm.
Merchant, last seen in Logan, has written, directed and will appear in wrestling dramadey Fighting With My Family, which has a 14 September release set for this year in the US but no firm UK date. Lund, meanwhile was part of the cast for 2012's Headhunters and has been working primarily in Norwegian TV, including on crime thriller Black Widows. As for The Girl In The Spider's Web, that's due on 22 November.
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