Stieg Larsson had planned to write ten books about Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, and the notes are in the possession of his partner, Eva Gabrielson. However, since they were not married, his father and brother inherited the rights to his literary estate upon his death, and the two parties never came to terms about the direction of the series. The family then hired another writer to create new stories. This film is based on the novel of the same name, the fourth book in the series and the first one not to be written by Stieg Larsson as he had died before he could write anymore entries.
It was announced in November 2015 that David Fincher, Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara would not be returning for this film. Mara and Craig were particularly upset about this as they were fully committed to a sequel, but due to the box office disappointment of their film, the planned sequels never happened.
With the story taking place in Stockholm, Claire Foy adopted a Swedish accent for the film with the help of linguistic coach William Conacher, who had already helped her create her royal accent for The Crown (2016).
The director wanted to turn most of the stunts on the set, without resorting to visual effects or green backgrounds. For a stunt in a snow-covered car, the team used a "top rider", that is to say a fully functional car where the driver is sitting on the roof and the actor behind the wheel pretends to drive.
For this film, the infamous Dragon Tattoo on Lisbeth's back was based on mythological Norse and Scandinavian dragons.
Fede Alvarez: [Club Atlético Peñarol] You can see a sticker of the Uruguayan football team Peñarol in one of the scenes. Fede Álvarez is a well-known fan of this team.