Could Sicario Become the Crime World’s Mission: Impossible?

When Sicario: Day of the Soldado hit theaters in 2018, it arrived just weeks before Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout. On paper, the two franchises couldn’t seem more different — one is a gritty, morally complex crime thriller about the U.S.–Mexico drug war, and the other is a globe-trotting, high-octane espionage saga fueled by impossible stunts. Yet, beneath the surface, both share an intriguing structural similarity that might shape the future of Sicario as a franchise.

Two Franchises, One Formula

From the start, the Mission: Impossible series has operated on a flexible anthology model. Each installment focuses on a single mission with its own self-contained narrative, aesthetic, and creative team. Except for the last two films, Rogue Nation and Fallout, every chapter featured a different director, offering a new visual and tonal flavor while maintaining a consistent core — Tom Cruise’s unrelenting agent Ethan Hunt and his IMF team.

This format has kept Mission: Impossible remarkably resilient for nearly three decades. It doesn’t rely on cliffhangers or tight continuity; instead, it reinvents itself every few years, offering a fresh take on espionage while holding onto its core DNA of betrayal, teamwork, and adrenaline.

Now, with Day of the Soldado, the Sicario series seems to be experimenting with a similar model for the crime genre. While both Sicario (2015) and its sequel feature recurring characters — notably Josh Brolin’s coldly efficient CIA operative Matt Graver and Benicio Del Toro’s haunted hitman Alejandro Gillick — the two films are only loosely connected by plot. Each presents a new “mission” exploring the brutal ethics of America’s shadow wars on drugs and terror.

Taylor Sheridan’s Anthology Vision

Screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, who wrote both films, has long described Sicario as an anthology trilogy rather than a traditional serialized saga. His goal wasn’t to build a linear story but to craft three standalone examinations of violence, corruption, and survival at the border.

Sheridan originally titled the second film simply Soldado (Spanish for “soldier”), underscoring his intention to detach it from the original. However, Sony Pictures added Sicario to the title — a marketing decision designed to attract fans of the first movie and bolster box office appeal.

Still, Day of the Soldado achieves Sheridan’s purpose. It feels like a separate operation — another grim assignment in the lives of Graver and Gillick, with almost no direct references to Emily Blunt’s Kate Macer or the events of the first Sicario. Where Sicario focused on moral awakening through Macer’s disillusioned eyes, Soldado plunges deeper into the darkness, stripping away any illusion of conscience.

A Stand-Alone Mission in a Larger War

In Soldado, Graver utters a line that encapsulates the shift: “No rules this time.” The remark could refer to their previous mission — or to any of the covert operations these men have carried out in the murky corridors of government-sanctioned warfare. That ambiguity is exactly what makes the Sicario universe so compelling.

Both Sicario films present themselves as windows into a continuing chain of unseen missions, each exploring a different facet of the same war. It’s easy to imagine future installments jumping to other operations, new borders, or fresh geopolitical nightmares — just as Mission: Impossible moves from Berlin to Dubai to the Arctic, adapting its formula to new environments and crises.

What distinguishes Sicario from traditional crime dramas is its realism. Sheridan’s scripts pull from the shadows of real-world events: covert border operations, cartel politics, and the gray morality of counterterrorism. The franchise could easily sustain itself by tackling fresh “missions” rooted in these global conflicts — all while keeping its tone grounded, tense, and morally ambiguous.

The Sheridan Effect

Taylor Sheridan’s voice has become a defining force in modern American storytelling. From Hell or High Water to Wind River and his sprawling Yellowstone universe, his work dissects the cost of power and violence in a lawless landscape.

With Sicario, Sheridan, along with directors Denis Villeneuve (Sicario) and Stefano Sollima (Soldado), redefined the modern thriller — proving that action and tension could coexist with grim philosophical questions. What does justice mean when everyone involved is complicit? What happens when loyalty becomes another weapon?

Those themes make Sicario uniquely positioned to evolve into a Mission: Impossible-style anthology — but for thinking adults. Instead of gadgets and high-flying heroics, it delivers moral decay, personal trauma, and the cold mechanics of real-world power.

A Future in the Shadows

If Sicario 3 ever materializes — and Josh Brolin has hinted that it’s “right around the corner” — it could cement this anthology approach once and for all. A third film might not continue directly from Soldado, but rather open a new chapter in the same brutal universe, with or without returning faces.

Whether the next mission follows Graver and Gillick or introduces a new operative entirely, the potential is vast. Like Mission: Impossible, each film could stand alone — unique in tone, setting, and director — but linked by the same moral undercurrent: the cost of fighting darkness with darkness.

Nearly a decade after its debut, Sicario remains a modern classic of tension and ambiguity. And if Sheridan’s plan holds true, the franchise might not just survive — it could redefine what the crime genre looks like when it dares to act like a spy thriller.