Summary
Lisbeth Salander is a mysterious character inThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoowhose age can be somewhat difficult to determine. She is the title character in the 2011 David Fincher movie, which is based on the 2005 Stieg Larsson novel of the same name. Larsson died before the novel’s publication, but he had already completed work on a full Salander trilogy, following her exploits in 2006’sThe Girl Who Played with Fireand 2007’sThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest.
Salander has been featured in a variety of onscreen adaptationsof the franchise. First, the trilogy was adapted into Swedish-language movies starring Noomi Rapace in the role. While Fincher adapted the original novel in English with Rooney Mara as Lisbeth, his version ofDragon Tattoonever received a direct sequel despite grossing $239.3 million worldwide. The movie was later followed by 2018’sThe Girl in the Spider’s Webstarring Claire Foy (adapting the David Lagercrantz sequel novel) and theupcomingGirl with the Dragon TattooTV show, which is in development with Amazon at the time of writing.
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Lisbeth Salander Was 24 Years Old In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Stieg Larsson Character Looks Younger Than Her Years
Although variousLisbeth Salander movieshave seen the character portrayed at different ages,she is 24 during the events ofThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Her age is revealed in the original book in a description provided by her boss, Milton Security CEO Dragan Armansky. In a segment of the book written from his perspective, he describes Lisbeth, saying that “she was twenty-four, but she sometimes looked fourteen.” This description highlights the fact that her age can indeed be difficult to determine, even for the other characters in the book.
Armansky was portrayed by Goran Višnjić in the 2011 movie.
Production on the 2011 movie lasted from September 2010 through June 2011. BecauseGirl with the Dragon Tattoostar Rooney Mara was born on June 29, 2025, this means that theSocial Networkactor would have been25 at the time that principal photography kicked off, though she turned 26 by the time it wrapped. This places her almost exactly in the proper age range for the character, though there was about a year’s gap between her and Lisbeth Salander.
Lisbeth & Mikael Blomkvist’s Age Gap In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Explained
There Is More Than A Decade And A Half Between The 2011 Movie’s Main Characters
The age of Lisbeth Salander’s investigating partner and love interest Mikael Blomkvist is also laid out clearly in the book, via a report compiled by Salander herself, which says that he “was born on July 08, 2025, which makes him forty-two years old.” At the time he played the role inThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Mara’s co-star Daniel Craig was exactly 42, though he had turned 43 by the time they wrapped. This means thatthe age gap between the characters is 18 years, while the gap between the stars playing them is roughly 17 years.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Based on the award-winning novel by Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo follows journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) as he searches for a woman who has been missing for 40 years. Along the way, he makes an unexpected ally in Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), who is a computer hacker and survivor of a traumatic childhood. The film is directed by David Fincher and won an Oscar in 2012 for Best Achievement in Film Editing.
