‘Sicario 3’ Is Finally Moving Forward With Its Original Stars and a New Director

Few sequels have tested fans’ patience quite like the follow-up to ‘Sicario.’ Plans for a third film date back to 2018, and attempts to get it off the ground were repeatedly derailed by scheduling conflicts and the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.

The original 2015 film was directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Taylor Sheridan in his screenwriting debut, and it starred Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin. The movie was a hit with action-thriller audiences, who could not get enough of the trio’s morally gray chemistry.

The wait may finally be ending. DiscussingFilm shared on October 5 that ‘Sicario 3’ is officially moving forward with Blunt, Del Toro and Brolin all returning, with Padraic McKinley set to direct and Steven Knight writing the script. The post, which cites Deadline and has drawn more than 339,000 views, accompanies the franchise’s familiar poster of the three leads.

According to a Deadline exclusive, Black Label Media and Thunder Road are bringing back the team, with plot details kept under wraps. McKinley and Knight are working on the script with notes from the stars, and the plan is to shoot at the top of the year.

It is worth noting that the report is not a done deal in every respect. Screen Rant says the three actors are “in talks” to reprise their roles, while CBR notes that Deadline’s sources say the project will be taken to market, with several studios already showing interest in the package.

McKinley is a notable choice for the job. He directed this year’s ‘The Weight,’ and Deadline reports that the search for a director was thorough, with the producers and the lead cast each meeting potential candidates before McKinley came out as the most impressive. He follows Villeneuve and Stefano Sollima, who directed the first two films.

The writing credit is equally interesting. Knight, known for ‘Peaky Blinders,’ will write the first ‘Sicario’ film not penned by Sheridan. Knight is also working on the Bond 26 script.

That detail comes with a wrinkle, since Sheridan had been tied to the project just days earlier. Variety reported last week that the ‘Yellowstone’ creator had written a script for the third film, and World of Reel reads the new Deadline report as meaning Sheridan’s original draft won’t be used. Neither report spells out how the two versions relate, so fans will have to wait for clarity.

For the returning stars, the project carries a slightly uneven history. Blunt did not reprise her role in ‘Sicario: Day of the Soldado,’ although Brolin and Del Toro were part of that cast. That 2018 sequel left Del Toro’s Alejandro and Brolin’s Graver to carry the story alongside Isabela Merced’s Isabel Reyes. Her return would reunite the original trio for the first time since the 2015 film.

The momentum has been building for a while. Brolin confirmed in mid-2025 that the threequel was very much alive, and told Screen Rant in August that production was expected to begin very soon. The latest report finally puts a director and writer behind those promises.

Whether the new team can recapture the tension of the original will be the big question. For now, the lineup of Blunt, Del Toro and Brolin, plus a fresh creative team, is enough to get fans talking about a franchise that many thought might never come back.

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