Not a fortnight has passed since news of Sicario 2 emerged – bearing the title Soldado – and already, Stefano Sollima is eyeing a potential trilogy with Sicario 3.
Word comes by way of The Independent, where Sollima cautioned that the third installment isn’t being considered as a bona fide threequel; rather, in a similar fashion to Soldado blazing a new path away from its forebear, Sicario 3 would be treated as a self-contained, standalone movie “with some of the core actors and [set] in the same world.”
That’s a creative process that has already taken into effect on the second installment, given that the Italian filmmaker has confirmed Soldado will set the stage for the antagonists to become the lead characters, effectively doubling down on Josh Brolin’s shady CIA operative and Alejandro Gillick, played with malicious glee by Benicio Del Toro.
“It’s not a real sequel,” he continued. “It’s absolutely a standalone movie – a completely different story with just two of the characters that you met in Sicario. “The reason that I love [Soldado] is because it’s not exactly a sequel; it’s something you can catch and enjoy even if you haven’t watched the first one.”
Bear in mind that Soldado remains deep in pre-production at the time of writing, meaning it’s very, very early days on Sollima’s follow-up. Taking the place of Denis Villeneue, the director will now collaborate with Taylor Sheridan on the screenplay as Lionsgate and Black Label Media’s atypical cinematic franchise begins to take shape.
Sicario 3 is officially a thing – but could it spell the return of Emily Blunt’s Kate Mercer? Unlikely, given Sollima’s comments about shifting focus to the antagonists, but we remain hopeful nonetheless.