Taylor Sheridan’s Sicario 3 Finally Happening With New Production Timeline Update From Josh Brolin

Josh Brolin is primed and ready for his Sicario 3 return.

Brolin starred in the first two installments of the Taylor Sheridan-created action franchise as Matt Graver, a CIA SAC officer who works as part of a covert task force to combat Mexican drug cartels along the Mexico-United States border, often with the assistance of Benicio del Toro’s Alejandro Gillick. After Day of the Soldado’s financial success, plans for Sicario 3 were put into development, though it’s been a rocky road of starts and stops along the way.

Now, in an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan for the Ridley Scott-helmed The Dog Stars, Brolin has offered a brief, but encouraging, new update on Sicario 3. The Oscar nominee confirmed that the action threequel “is happening,” while also teasing the production timeline is kicking off “soon” for the new film.

Brolin’s new update comes one year after he revealed that Sicario 3 was finally looking “very, very real” after loosely following the movie’s development through the grapevine. At the time, he also indicated an uncertainty as to whether Denis Villeneuve would return to helm the action franchise’s third installment after having directed its originator, while Stefano Sollima took the reins for 2018’s Day of the Soldado.

Even with Brolin now confirming that Sicario 3 is finally happening, there are still a lot of other unanswered questions regarding the threequel. Producers for the film previously indicated that the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike halted progress on the threequel, but that writing was very far along, before later confirming that same year that writing was nearly done. That said, it’s still not yet known who is actually penning the script for the new installment, given Sheridan has become an incredibly busy figure with his Yellowstone and Paramount+ empires.

Another point of interest for Sicario 3‘s development is who will get in the director’s chair for the film. In one of the most recent updates from producer Molly Smith, it was revealed that Mission: Impossible vet Christopher McQuarrie was working as “a partner” on the film in some capacity, but it was not specified whether this would be in a writing, directing or producorial capacity. In the time since closing out the Tom Cruise franchise with The Final Reckoning, McQuarrie has attached himself to a variety of projects, including the Battlefield movie adaptation and, reportedly, the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led King Conan, thus making his dance card a bit full to direct.

As for Villeneuve, he similarly has kept himself busy since helming the first Sicario, particularly when it comes to adapting Frank Herbert’s Dune universe for the screen. However, while his primary project after Dune: Part Three is expected to be the next James Bond film for Amazon MGM Studios, there’s a very real chance progress has moved along at a steady enough pace on Sicario 3 for him to make his franchise return.

The other main question hanging over Sicario 3 as it gears up for its “soon” production start is who else will be joining Brolin in the film’s cast. Despite Day of the Soldado‘s harrowing events, del Toro’s Gillick is not only still alive, but was last seen recruiting a potential new figure in the titular position, either giving the Oscar winner an entirely new role in the threequel, or taking him out entirely. With Jeffrey Donovan and Raoul Trujillo being the only other stars to have reprised their roles in the 2018 sequel, and some still keen for Emily Blunt to return, it will be interesting to see what casting updates come in the near future as filming finally gears up to begin.

Via: Screen Rant