Variety has learned that Sky has commissioned a series based on Stieg Larsson’s hit novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Steve Lightfoot (Spider Noir, Behind Her Eyes, Hannibal) and Angela LaManna (The Ghost at Bligh, Behind Her Eyes) will write and executive produce the eight-episode Sky Original, which will be produced by Left Bank Pictures. Left Bank Pictures’ Andy Harries, Charlotte Moore and John Phillips will also executive produce, along with Sky’s Sam Hoyle, Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin.
Production is scheduled to begin in Lithuania this spring. The show will then be available on Sky in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Sony Pictures Television, home of Left Bank Pictures, will handle international distribution, with pre-sale efforts currently underway in the United States.
In the novel, disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist and hacker Lisbeth Salander investigate the mysterious disappearance of a girl from a wealthy family 40 years ago. According to the project’s official description, the story “builds on the DNA of the characters and investigation from Stieg Larsson’s millennium novel, brought into the present day with themes that are even more relevant today.”
Ramanna is represented by Curate Gersh & Ginsburg Daniels Cullis LLP. Lightfoot is repped by WME, Curtis Brown and Sloan Offer.
Variety previously reported that Amazon was developing a series version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but the project never made it out of development.
Salander and Mikael Blomkvist were major characters in the Millennium book series, three of which Larsson completed before her death in 2004: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. David Lagercrantz then took over the writing of the novels and published The Girl in the Spider’s Web, The Girl with an Eye for an Eye, and The Girl Who Lived Twice. Karin Smirnoff recently took over the series, publishing The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons in 2022 and The Girl with Ice in Her Veins in 2024. The books have sold over 100 million copies worldwide.
The first three books were previously made into a Swedish film series, starring Noomi Rapace as Salander and Mikael Nyqvist as Blomkvist. The American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, starring Rooney Mara as Salander and Daniel Craig as Blomkvist, was released in 2011, and The Girl in the Spider’s Web, starring Claire Foy and Sverrir Gudnason, was released in 2018. The latter two films were provided by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
