Not every film needs a sequel or to be turned into a franchise, and although I was a big fan of Denis Villeneuve's SICARIO, I didn't think that it needed the sequel treatment, but here we are. SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO will hit theaters this Friday and finds Benicio del Toro's Alejandro Gillick and Josh Brolin's CIA agent Matt Graver joining forces in order to help start a war between two Mexican drug cartels after the US government learns they could be smuggling terrorists into the states through Mexico. For the most part, the sequel has received generally positive reviews, with many calling it a worthy and brutal follow-up to the first film.
Should all go as planned, SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO will actually be the second film in the SICARIO trilogy, an idea which was discussed several years ago. While speaking with THR, co-producer Trent Luckinbill said, "Taylor [Sheridan] always kicked around the idea that this was going to be a trilogy. He has a lot of ideas of where he could take these characters. Taylor has a master plan. For this one, I think he really just wanted to explore Josh and Benicio’s characters." THR adds that although Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) didn't appear in the sequel, she could very well return for the third film if it moves ahead. Should Blunt return, perhaps the third film would revolve around a showdown between her character and Benicio del Toro's?
In a separate interview with Stefano Sollima, the DAY OF THE SOLDADO director said that although he knows that Taylor Sheridan has something in mind for the third film, he hasn't shared it with him yet. The director also discussed what it was like following in the footsteps of Denis Villeneuve, saying, "Oh, I wasn’t intimidated at all. To do this job and to do it well, you have to be a little bit crazy." Although you would think that Villeneuve would want to know what was going on in the sequel, Sollima said that he "never had a conversation with Denis about Soldado" as Villeneuve didn't think that it would be right for him to be looking over his shoulder.
Every director is like a fingerprint; we’re all unique. Since I run two television shows [Gomorrah and ZeroZeroZero], I often have immensely talented directors around me, and I never try to give them advice. I just try to create a healthy environment where they can express their own creativity. I believe this is the best way to successfully collaborate. So, I absolutely appreciate the respect Denis showed me.
SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO will hit theaters on June 29th.