The Big Picture
Until 2015, Taylor Sheridan was best known for playing Deputy Chief Hale on Sons of Anarchy. When Sheridan was 38, his screenplay Sicario was finally produced, and he asked to be written out of his acting duties entirely. Before he went on to create his neo-Western empire (Wind River, Hell or High Water, Yellowstone, 1883), Sicario wowed the world with its dark gritty take on governmental gray areas and border patrol. This war-crime epic was directed by Denis Villeneuve and shot by Roger Deakins, who had previously collaborated on 2013’s Prisoners.
What Happens in 2015’s ‘Sicario’?
Sicario follows Emily Blunt as FBI agent Kate Macer, who is assigned a mysterious task with the CIA on which she’s not fully briefed. Josh Brolin plays CIA Officer Matt Graver, who heads the Joint Task Force. As a foreign intelligence agency, the CIA can only collect intelligence on foreign targets, meaning Kate’s under-briefed attendance is merely to tick the box of FBI involvement, allowing the CIA to operate more freely.
Their plan, as it turns out, is to help ex-prosecutor-turned-CIA-trained-assassin Alejandro Gillick (Benicio Del Toro) enact revenge on the cartel boss who killed his family. He does so, earning his title of “Sicario” or “Hitman.” Alejandro eventually holds Kate at gunpoint until she signs the document that states their mission was entirely lawful, which it wasn’t. Reluctantly, she signs and Alejandro walks away, into the sunset.
What Happens in 2018’s ‘Sicario: Day of the Soldado’?
The 2018 sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado (or simply Sicario 2: Soldado in the UK) doesn’t feature Blunt’s Kate Macer, instead focusing on the titular “Sicario,” Alejandro. Again written by Sheridan, but this time directed by Stefano Sollima, the sequel sees an ISIS terrorist attack on US soil that leads Matt Graver to investigate the Mexican cartel “coyotes” believed to be smuggling anti-American terrorists across their border. They decide to instigate a war among the cartels using encrypted communications in order to deny any US involvement.
Alejandro is once again hired by Matt, this time to kidnap Isabel (Isabela Merced), the daughter of Sonoran kingpin Carlos Reyes, in a false flag operation to raise cartel tensions. This makes for a The Last of Us-style dynamic as they travel cross-country and Alejandro is reminded of the daughter he lost before he became a stone-cold killer. The two are captured and, as part of his gang initiation, a young “coyote” named Miguel (Elijah Rodriguez) is tasked with killing Alejandro. He shoots him in the cheek instead, allowing him to fake his death and Matt allows Isabel to go into US witness protection. One year later, a gang-tattooed Miguel is confronted by Alejandro, who asks him, “So you want to be a Sicario? Let’s talk about your future.”
What is Happening with ‘Sicario 3: Capos’?
While discussing Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Producer Trent Luckinbill admitted, “We kind of leave off a little teaser at the end.” During his 2018 chat with Screen Rant, Luckinbill said we can “absolutely” expect more Sicario. “This was always in the back of Taylor’s mind […] I think we’d like to do that now.” In 2021, the title Sicario: Capos was announced, but the project stalled for several years, most recently due to the WGA strike. Label Media’s Molly Smith recently announced, “We’re very close. It’s one of the projects where we’re ready to put the train on the tracks as soon as the strike ends.”
According to Smith, Taylor Sheridan “always envisioned it as a trilogy, so we have to close it out right.” Trilogies are nothing new for Sheridan who also envisions his first three movies (Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River) as his “American Frontier Trilogy.” Smith continued to discuss Sicario: Capos by saying, “There’s no point in making it unless we can do justice to the true fans of Sicario.” With the WGA strike now coming to an end, producer Basil Iwanyk confirmed to The Messenger that the three-quel was happening, with Erica Lee adding, “When we can continue writing it. It was pencils down, but the idea is awesome.”
