David Oyelowo takes over Daniel Craig’s role in Sky’s new Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series
The TV reimagining of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has a new Mikael Blomkvist replacing Daniel Craig — and the choice might surprise you.
So, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo isn’t just making another lap round the box office – it’s going properly TV. And not just any ordinary telly, mind: the project, now officially underway with Sky and Left Bank Pictures at the wheel, marks a return to Stieg Larsson’s Millennium universe with a full-on long-form series, rather than another film remake for the pile. Interesting move, especially after the last Hollywood feature, The Girl in the Spider's Web, more or less fizzled in terms of buzz and dollars.
New Faces, Same Brutal World
Let’s start with the fresh blood. David Oyelowo, a man who doesn’t do things by halves (see: Selma, Silo), now steps into the brooding shoes of Mikael Blomkvist, the journalist previously played with stoic charm by Daniel Craig in David Fincher’s 2011 version. Leaving behind Bond’s tux, Craig brought a certain battered decency to the role, but the telly version looks set for something quite different in flavour with Oyelowo on board.
Sparking across from him is Viola Prettejohn, who’s probably best recognised for her stint as young Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown and popping up in The Witcher. Fun detail: Prettejohn actually played a younger version of Claire Foy in The Crown – and Foy was, until now, the last actor to play Lisbeth Salander on film. Prettejohn now has the dubious honour of picking up where not just Foy, but also Rooney Mara (Fincher’s chilly cyber-punk take) and Noomi Rapace (Sweden’s native, original Lisbeth) left off.
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Time Jump, New Lens
With eight episodes to play with, and Reinaldo Marcus Green (yes, the bloke who directed King Richard) in charge, the reboot aims to drag Larsson’s twisted conspiracies and ugly secrets well into the present day – think digital surveillance, new forms of misogyny, and the sheer venom of online power games. According to Meghan Lyvers, Sky’s managing director of scripted originals, this isn’t just a straight retelling; it's pitched as both a homage and an upgrade, aiming to capture what made the original novels and Fincher’s version sing while making it properly relevant to a 2020s audience.
Here’s how Meghan Lyvers, Sky’s drama boss, put it in a statement: "Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist are two of modern fiction's most iconic and compelling characters, and we're thrilled to have Viola and David bringing them to life for a new generation. Our brilliant writing team, Reinaldo Marcus Green's bold vision and our fantastic partners at Left Bank Pictures are creating a series that honors everything audiences love about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, while taking its characters, mystery and themes into a world that feels unmistakably of the moment. We can't wait for audiences to experience it."
They’re promising more of a deep dive into the Vanger family dynamics than anything the films could manage – which, to be fair, is precisely the sort of nitty-gritty detail you want from a prestige TV adaptation. Filming kicks off in Lithuania this October, with a projected release window landing in 2027 if all goes smoothly and nobody loses the plot halfway through.
Filming begins in Lithuania in October 2026 for an expected 2027 release.
Key Details: Who's Playing Who?
- David Oyelowo – Mikael Blomkvist (the troubled journalist; previously Daniel Craig)
- Viola Prettejohn – Lisbeth Salander (the hacker antihero; taking the baton from Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, and Noomi Rapace)
- Reinaldo Marcus Green – Director
- Sky and Left Bank Pictures – Producers
The plan is to stay faithful to Larsson’s tone but take full advantage of a streaming format. No official date for broadcast yet, but with cameras rolling soon, it’s likely to see daylight in 2027.
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