Josh Brolin Teases Sicario 3: “It’s There — I Just Don’t Know When”

While promoting his latest film The Running Man, actor Josh Brolin found himself fielding a familiar question from reporters — will audiences ever see Sicario 3? The No Country for Old Men and Dune star didn’t shy away from the topic, acknowledging both the long-standing fan interest and the uncertainty surrounding the long-gestating sequel.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Brolin offered a mix of optimism and realism when asked about the project’s current status. “It’s just a really big corner,” he said, using a metaphor to describe how difficult it’s been to get the third Sicario off the ground. “There’s a very small ratio on the steering wheel. At one point, I said, ‘I don’t think there’s going to be a Sicario 3. I doubt it’s going to happen.’ And then there was all this [commotion]. Molly, Thad, and Trent [Luckinbill] came out and said something. So I also keep hearing that it’s right around the corner. I know it’s there. When we do it, I don’t know when that is, but I know it’s there.”

Brolin added with a laugh that time isn’t exactly on the cast’s side. “I’m excited about the prospect of it,” he said, “but you can’t wait too long because we’ll have walkers.”

A Franchise Built on Shadows and Morality

The Sicario franchise first burst onto the screen in 2015 with Denis Villeneuve’s taut, harrowing thriller about the blurred lines between justice and vengeance in the U.S.-Mexico border war. Written by Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, the film starred Emily Blunt as FBI agent Kate Macer, who joins a shadowy government task force led by Brolin’s CIA operative Matt Graver and the enigmatic assassin Alejandro Gillick, played by Benicio Del Toro.

The film earned widespread critical acclaim for its unflinching realism, haunting Roger Deakins cinematography, and Jóhann Jóhannsson’s thunderous score. It also received three Academy Award nominations, cementing it as one of the decade’s most memorable crime thrillers.

When Sicario: Day of the Soldado arrived in 2018, expectations were high — but the absence of Villeneuve and Blunt, coupled with a more sensationalized tone under director Stefano Sollima, left audiences divided. While Sheridan again penned the screenplay and the film delivered bursts of tension and brutality, many viewers criticized its convoluted ending and moral confusion.

Still, Soldado performed respectably at the box office and set up an intriguing cliffhanger — with Del Toro’s character surviving an apparent execution and seemingly preparing to recruit a new young killer. It was a finale that hinted at unfinished business, even if many fans felt the sequel didn’t live up to the first film’s haunting precision.

Brolin, Del Toro, and Sheridan: The Core of Sicario

Brolin’s character, Matt Graver, has been a moral compass of sorts — or rather, the embodiment of moral compromise. Alongside Del Toro’s Alejandro, he operates in the murky gray zones of geopolitical power, where orders blur into crimes and loyalty often depends on who’s signing the contract.

“The great thing about Sicario,” Brolin once told Empire, “is that nobody is the hero. You think you’re watching a story about good guys taking on bad guys, but then you realize everyone’s a part of the same machine.”

Taylor Sheridan’s sharp, minimalist writing is key to that dynamic. Since Sicario, Sheridan has built a small media empire through series like Yellowstone, 1883, and Mayor of Kingstown — which may explain part of the delay in revisiting Sicario. With Sheridan now one of Hollywood’s busiest writer-producers, carving out time to script another morally charged war-on-drugs thriller could be a tall order.

Still, according to Brolin, the film’s producers — brothers Thad and Trent Luckinbill and their sister Molly Smith — are determined to make Sicario 3 happen. “I know it’s there,” Brolin reiterated. “They’re passionate about it, and so am I.”

What Could Sicario 3 Be About?

The end of Day of the Soldado left the franchise at a crossroads. With Alejandro’s survival confirmed, and Matt Graver’s allegiance uncertain, a third installment could explore their inevitable confrontation. The story may also circle back to Emily Blunt’s Kate Macer — whose moral outrage and disillusionment in the first film provided the audience’s emotional anchor.

Bringing Blunt back could restore the trilogy’s thematic balance, grounding the action in human perspective and giving closure to a story that began with her questioning what justice really means.

A Decade Later, the Door Stays Open

It’s been seven years since Sicario: Day of the Soldado, and nearly a decade since the original film. That kind of gap isn’t unprecedented — franchises like Top Gun and Mad Max have returned successfully after long hiatuses.

If the creative team can capture the stripped-down tension and psychological nuance that defined the first Sicario, Brolin believes it’s worth doing. “I’m excited about the prospect,” he said. “I know it’s there.”

For now, Sicario 3 remains in the shadows — waiting, much like its characters, for the right moment to strike.