Lisbeth Salander may return to hack again. But whether moviegoers see Rooney Mara back as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is still a big question mark.

The Oscar nominee starred as the heroine in 2011’s English-language adaptation of the first novel of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series.

“Less and less,” she told Postmedia Network when she’s asked how often she gets questioned about reprising her role for the second instalment, The Girl Who Played with Fire. “Soon I’ll be grey and no one will be asking me.”

Directed by David Fincher (Se7en, The Social Network) and co-starring Daniel Craig, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a lukewarm box office success, grossing $230 million worldwide.

Sony has options on the two stars to return and the studio reportedly paid millions for Steven Zaillian’s script for The Girl Who Played with Fire.

But Mara has doubts.

“I don’t think the first one made enough money for them to jump into the next one,” she said matter-of-factly following the TIFF premiere of her upcoming film Lion, starring Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman.

Last year, the Hollywood Reporter announced that Sony was eyeing a reboot without Mara and Craig that would focus on the fourth book instalment – The Girl in the Spider’s Web, written by David Lagercrantz.

And even though she’d love to play Salander again, Mara has almost given up hope for a sequel.

“I would love to do it, but I’ve stopped holding out for it,” she says quietly. “I was holding my breath for it and really wanting it for so long and now enough years have gone by that if it doesn’t happen, it’s OK.

“I’d still really love for it to happen, but I don’t know that it’s in my destiny.”