Stieg Larsson Books in Order: Complete Millennium Series

Looking for Stieg Larsson books in order? Larsson created the Millennium series, which follows gifted hacker Lisbeth Salander and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist through stories of murder, corruption, abuse, and political extremism.

Larsson completed the original three novels before his death in 2004. The full series has eight published U.S. novels, with David Lagercrantz writing Books 4–6 and Karin Smirnoff writing Books 7–8. You may also see these called the Lisbeth Salander books or the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series.

Jump to:

Stieg Larsson Books in Order
Other Books and Writing by Stieg Larsson
Swedish-Language Nonfiction and Collaborations
Millennium Graphic Novels
Millennium Movies and TV Adaptations
Who Continued the Millennium Series?
About Stieg Larsson

Stieg Larsson Books in Order

The list below follows the first U.S. publication order for the complete Millennium series. The original Stieg Larsson trilogy is followed by the authorized continuation novels by David Lagercrantz and Karin Smirnoff.

I recommend reading all eight novels in the order above. Publication order and story chronology are the same, and the later books build on relationships and events established earlier in the series.

Swedish publisher Polaris has announced a ninth Millennium novel by Karin Smirnoff, Kvinnor som hatar män, for September 23, 2026. Polaris describes it as Smirnoff’s concluding contribution to the series. No official U.S. title or publication date has been announced, so I haven’t placed it in the numbered U.S. list.

Other Books and Writing by Stieg Larsson

Larsson is best known for the original Millennium trilogy, but his published work also includes journalism and early science fiction. Neither of the works below is connected to Lisbeth Salander or Mikael Blomkvist.

The Expo Files: Articles by the Crusading Journalist (2014)
“Brain Power” (Short Story) (found in A Darker Shade of Sweden) (2014)

The Expo Files collects Larsson’s writing on extremism, racism, and violence against women. “Brain Power” is a science-fiction story he wrote as a teenager. I’d treat both as optional additions for readers interested in Larsson beyond the Millennium novels.

Swedish-Language Nonfiction and Collaborations

Larsson also wrote and contributed to several Swedish-language books about political extremism, democracy, journalism, and violence against women. These works are not part of the Millennium series, and English editions are not widely available.

Extremhögern with Anna-Lena Lodenius (1991)
Överleva deadline: handbok för hotade journalister (2000)
Sverigedemokraterna: den nationella rörelsen with Mikael Ekman (2001)
Handbok för demokrater with Daniel Poohl (2004)
Debatten om hedersmord: feminism eller rasism, edited with Cecilia Englund (2004)
Sverigedemokraterna från insidan, a multi-author Expo work led by Richard Slätt, with a contribution from Larsson (2004)

I’ve kept this list focused on Larsson’s book-length work rather than trying to catalog every article, report, fanzine contribution, or unpublished manuscript.

Millennium Graphic Novels

DC’s Vertigo imprint adapted Larsson’s original trilogy as graphic novels written by Denise Mina. The first novel was initially divided into two volumes, but I prefer the later collected edition because it puts the complete adaptation in one book.

These are adaptations rather than additional stories. I recommend reading each after its corresponding novel if you want to experience Larsson’s original version before the visual retelling.

Millennium Movies and TV Adaptations

The screen adaptations fall into separate continuities, so they shouldn’t be treated as one five-film series.

Swedish Movies

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (2009)

The three Swedish movies adapt Larsson’s complete trilogy and star Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist. They premiered in Sweden in 2009, followed by U.S. releases in 2010.

English-Language Movies

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2018)

The 2011 movie stars Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig and adapts the first Larsson novel. The Girl in the Spider’s Web uses a different cast, with Claire Foy as Salander, and adapts Lagercrantz’s fourth series novel. My advice is to treat it as a separate follow-up rather than a direct continuation with the same actors.

Television Adaptations

The Swedish movies were also expanded into the six-part television miniseries Millennium (2010), which includes additional footage. It tells the same three stories, so you can choose either the theatrical movies or the longer television version.

Sky announced an eight-part television series titled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on January 13, 2026. The announcement described it as a contemporary reimagining based on Larsson’s characters and did not include a release date.

Who Continued the Millennium Series?

David Lagercrantz wrote the first three authorized continuation novels, beginning with The Girl in the Spider’s Web. He had already written fiction and journalism and co-written the sports memoir I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović before taking over Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist’s story.

Karin Smirnoff followed Lagercrantz with The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons and The Girl with Ice in Her Veins. I think keeping the author names beside each title is important because readers searching for “Stieg Larsson books” can otherwise come away believing that Larsson wrote the entire series.

Larsson planned a longer Millennium series and left unfinished material for another novel. Accounts differ about its length. His longtime partner, Eva Gabrielsson, described approximately 200 pages, while his friend John-Henri Holmberg cited 320 pages of a planned 440-page manuscript. The authorized continuation novels were written separately rather than as completions of that draft.

About Stieg Larsson

Stieg Larsson was born on August 15, 1954, in Skelleftehamn, Sweden. He worked as a journalist, graphic designer, author, and researcher of far-right extremism. He died of a heart attack in Stockholm on November 9, 2004, at age 50.

Larsson helped establish the Expo Foundation and served as editor in chief of Expo magazine, which investigates racism and antidemocratic movements. His journalism and political work shaped many of the themes that later appeared in the Millennium novels.

He was also active in Swedish science-fiction fandom and began writing fiction when he was young. His short story “Brain Power” came from that early interest. Larsson delivered three completed Millennium manuscripts to the Swedish publisher Norstedts, and all three novels were published posthumously in Sweden between 2005 and 2007.

Looking for more books in order?

If you want more thriller authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Thriller Books in Order index.