Sicario: Day of the Soldado producer Trent Luckinbill exclusively tells Screen Rant that audiences can "absolutely" expect Sicario 3 to happen. The Denis Villeneuve-directed Sicario, an action-packed drama about FBI agent Emily Blunt being enlisted to join the war on drugs along a tense region of the U.S.-Mexico border, garnered awards consideration when it came out in 2015. Though the film was only a modest success at the box office with $46 million in domestic grosses, it received enough positive response to spawn a sequel in 2018's Sicario: Day of the Soldado.

Emily Blunt is not back for the second Sicario film, and neither is Villeneuve. Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin are back from the first film however, with directorial reins being taken by acclaimed Gomorrah filmmaker Stefano Sollima. Perhaps most importantly, Sicario screenwriter Taylor Sheridan also penned the script for the sequel, which teams Brolin's Matt Graver with Del Toro's Alejandro Gillick to battle traffickers sneaking terrorists across the border.

As it turns out, Taylor Sheridan has already conceived plans for a third Sicario film to round out the trilogy. Director Sollima confirmed this to Screen Rant during a junket interview for Day of the Soldado, making Sicario 3 sound like a done deal. Indeed, Day of the Soldado producer Trent Luckinbill confirmed as much during his own chat with Screen Rant, saying we can "absolutely" expect Sicario 3. Luckinbill then talked a little more about the plans for a third Sicario:

"We were so thrilled that people responded to the first one and we felt justified in making a second because we loved it. (Laughs) We probably are the biggest fans of the movie. And we feel that way again. Obviously, even more than the first one, we kind of leave off a little teaser at the end. Yeah. And we would love to kind of see, you know, this was always in the back of Taylor's mind, and we loved it, and we thought, God, it would be great if we could get there. I think we'd like to do that now. I certainly feel like the second one lived up to the expectations."

According to prior reports, there's a chance Villeneuve could jump back aboard when/if Sicario 3 happens. Right now the Blade Runner 2049 filmmaker is very busy making at least two films based on Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic Dune. As for Day of the Soldado, star Brolin promises the film is "bigger" and "more severe" than the original (which was already plenty pulse-pounding and intense). Sheridan meanwhile says the new movie makes the first film "seem like a comedy." The thread here seems to be that Day of the Soldado will take off from the premise of law enforcement action at the border by raising the stakes. Smuggling drugs into the United States is one thing, but smuggling terrorists is another thing altogether.

Related: Sicario 3 Updates: Release Date Info & Cast

Who knows what Sheridan has in store in terms of scary scenarios for Sicario 3. But it sounds like the Oscar-nominated screenwriter already has a pretty grand and sweeping idea for how he wants his proposed trilogy to play out. And it sounds like Sicario 3 will definitely be coming along at some point in the future.

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