David Oyelowo will be Mikael Blomkvist in the new adaptation of Millenium

The Silo and Selma actor takes over the role of journalist from Stieg Larsson in this new series for English TV. Viola Prettejohn will play Lisbeth Salander.

New life for Millenium.

David Oyelowo, recently seen in Silo and The Book of Clarence, will play journalist Mikael Blomkvist in the new television adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s novels, while Viola Prettejohn, seen notably in The Crown, will play the essential hacker Lisbeth Salander.

The series will be produced by Left Bank Pictures, whose credits include The Crown and Dept. Q.

These two characters are far from being unknown to the general public, having already known several faces in the cinema. In the Swedish trilogy from the 2000s, Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace formed the Blomkvist-Salander duo, before giving way to Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in the adaptation directed by David Fincher in 2011.

This new version, however, intends to modernize the story. Composed of 8 episodes, the series will transpose Larsson’s universe to our time, with a plot that will notably explore new forms of power, secrecy and misogyny in an ever more connected world.

The plot will nevertheless remain faithful to the first novel, The Men Who Didn’t Love Women. Mikael Blomkvist, a recently sidelined journalist, joins forces with Lisbeth Salander to investigate the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, who disappeared more than thirty years earlier on an island belonging to one of Sweden’s most powerful industrial families. By delving into the secrets of the Vanger family, their investigation will bring them closer to a much more current threat.

Behind the camera, Reinaldo Marcus Green, director of King Richard and Bob Marley: One Love, takes control of the series and will also be executive producer. Andrea Harkin and Amy Neil will also direct several episodes. The screenplay will be written by Amanda Coe, Steve Lightfoot and Angela LaManna.

Filming will begin next month in Lithuania. Currently, no release date has been announced. The series will be offered on Sky in several European territories, while Sony Pictures Television will handle its international distribution.