Fans of David Fincher’s bleak-but-arresting version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo have been waiting for more than three years for Fincher to start work on the sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire. However, star Rooney Mara doubts that she and the director will ever finish adapting Stieg Larsson’s best-selling trilogy. Mara recently told E!, “I don’t think it’s going to happen. I’m sad never to do it again, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards.” According to /Film, this contradicts what Fincher said last September: “I think because [Sony] already has spent millions of dollars on the rights and the script, it will result in something.”
It’s possible that Mara isn’t as well-informed as Fincher, or that she’s lobbying for the project to sink because she never wants to wear those bangs again. There’s also the chance that Fincher is the one engaging in wishful thinking, as he seemed pretty excited about the Girl Who Played With Fire script last fall—noting that it “has huge potential” and that it “is extremely different from the book”—and he’s hoping that his enthusiasm will catch on at Sony. But for now, those looking forward to a Dragon Tattoo sequel are out in the cold, a position that they really should be used to by now.