A third Sicario film is officially in development, with Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro all set to return to the crime thriller series. Black Label Media and Thunder Road are behind the project, which Padraic McKinley will direct from a screenplay by Steven Knight. The package has come together independently, with the director, writer and all three leads in place before any distributor has been attached.
Blunt’s return is notable because she sat out the previous instalment. She starred in the first film, directed by Denis Villeneuve, but did not appear in the 2018 sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado, which Italian filmmaker Stefano Sollima directed and which remains the most recent Sicario film to reach cinemas. No plot details have been released. Production is expected to start early next year, and although Lionsgate released the first two films, the plan is to shop the third to potential studios.
Getting a third chapter off the ground has taken time. Taylor Sheridan, who wrote both earlier films, said early on that he intended to write another, but he now mainly runs a large television operation for Paramount+. Several writers have since taken a pass at the material, including Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen, who wrote the last two Mission: Impossible films and previously turned in a draft. Knight, now attached as writer, is also scripting the next James Bond film for Villeneuve.
McKinley made his feature directing debut with The Weight, which premiered at Sundance earlier in 2026 and was released by Vertical this autumn. The producing team includes Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill and Thad Luckinbill from Black Label Media, Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee from Thunder Road, and Ed McDonnell.
The three stars arrive with full calendars. Blunt recently appeared in the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada and has A Quiet Place: Part III due in cinemas next summer. Brolin starred in Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars and has Whalefall and Dune: Part III arriving later this year. Del Toro had a busy 2025, appearing in Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, which earned him a best supporting actor Oscar nomination, although the award went to his co-star Sean Penn. Representation for the group spans CAA, Range, LBI Entertainment and several other agencies and law firms.
