This bad news just in via @sarahw on Twitter: Quercus to publish fourth book in Larsson’s Millennium series
Quercus will publish a fourth book in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, to be written by Swedish author David Lagercrantz, in August 2015.
Larsson’s original Swedish publisher Norstedts Förlag announced today (17th December) they had signed a fourth book in the series, with Quercus following suit to say it had world English language rights, acquired from Norstedts and Moggliden, the Stieg Larsson estate.
It can never be the Lisbeth Salander. It will always be a simulacrum, a grave-robbing zombie.
Anyone who watched the final episode of Breaking Bad should understand why only the creator of a character can do right by a character. Had series creator Vince Gilligan died before the series ended, we wouldn’t have had that ending, we wouldn’t have gotten the final admission from Walter White that we did.
I know some people will argue, What about the Star Trek movies? What about Battlestar: Galactica? Well, look what happened to the Star Trek movies — they had to reboot into an alternate history. And BSG was just about the same too, with Starbuck being a woman. And what of Sherlock Holmes? Nothing matches the charm and brilliance of the original Conan Doyle stories. The Sherlock BBC series for all intents and purposes is also alternate universe — our modern day.
There are things a creator brings to life in a character that only that creator knows. Everything done by others is just a poor copy or lame guesswork.
Or worse: Vandalism. Having Lisbeth asking Blomkvist if she can kill Vanger undercuts her character in the American adaptation of the movie.
Nothing good can come of this. But I’m sure they’ll still laugh all the way to the goddammed bank. May their money do them no good.
And may they all wake up with tattooed bellies one morning:
Previously here:
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Book And Movie Versions
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Trailer Mashups
Shot By Shot: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Red Band Trailer
New Statesman – Girls, tattoos and men who hate women
The Girl With The Crack Cocaine Movie Trailer
Mike Cane’s xBlog 
I heard there was going to be another book yesterday and my only thought was ‘Isn’t the author dead?’.
One thing is making a movie adaption of someone else’s characters, but I don’t believe you can ever get close to recreating a character with words if you weren’t the one to create that character in the first place. It simply requires a too intimate knowledge of the character’s mind.
It hasn’t stopped publishers from expanding the Dune universe and Asimov’s Foundation universe with other writers, though. And Sherlock Holmes stories continue to be written — as sub-par as they all are compared to Conan Doyle’s. Dollar Uber Alles.
It’s sad that you will spoil something just to make money. but that’s the state of the world. Why not just drag it out to the breaking point?
I still think the Hobbit could have been crammed into a single movie…
I don’t have a problem with another author writing stories about a character provided that the new author’s name is on the cover.
Saying that only the creator can write a story is like saying no one can jam to “Hide Away” now that Freddy King is dead.
Music is an entirely different matter. Musicians are basically riffing on or duplicating what was already written, not writing something new based on something old (sampling for hiphop notwithstanding).