By Michael McWhertor Published Oct 3, 2026, 4:20 AM EDT Michael McWhertor is a New York-based journalist and editor with more than 20 years of experience covering games, industry events, technology, movies, and TV. News The Yellowstone and Hell or High Water writer is returning to the Sicario franchise
Image: Black Label Media/Lionsgate Sicario Sign in to your Polygon.com account Add Us Summary Generate a summary of this story Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Taylor Sheridan has become one of the most popular and prolific TV writers of the last decade, thanks to series like Yellowstone , Landman , and Dutton Ranch . The creator is also known for creating three of the best crime thrillers of the 2010s, with back-to-back-to-back successes in Sicario , Hell or High Water , and Wind River . After nearly a decade of focusing on television and pumping out Yellowstone seasons and spinoffs, Sheridan is returning to the film franchise that made him a household name.
Variety reports that Sheridan is writing the script for a third Sicario film after previous reports that the threequel was moving into production.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, the original Sicario is a nerve-wracking and grim exploration of America's morally compromised war on drugs along the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2015 film stars Emily Blunt as principled FBI agent Kate Macer, who is enlisted by the U.S. government to help capture a Mexican drug cartel leader with the aid of CIA agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and former Mexican prosecutor turned assassin Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro). Graver and Gillick operate on the edges of the law, and withhold crucial information from Macer, leading to a constant sense of tension and unease as violence threatens to erupt across multiple clandestine operations.
Sheridan wrote a sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado , which was released in 2018. Sheridan's follow-up was directed by Stefano Sollima, with Brolin and del Toro reprising their roles in the sequel. Day of the Soldado was less well-received both commercially and critically; Villeneuve's sensibilities and Roger Deakins' Academy Award-nominated cinematography were sorely missed in the sequel.
Image: Black Label Media/Lionsgate The third Sicario movie, often referred to as Sicario: Capos , has been in development in some form since 2018. Josh Brolin says he'll return for the third entry, and recently told ScreenRant that production is expected to start soon.
It's unclear at this stage who will join Brolin in Sicario 3 , though del Toro's character survived the events of Day of the Soldado , meaning he could also return. Villeneuve's currently occupied with wrapping up Dune Part Three , which arrives in December, and is attached to direct the next James Bond movie, so he'll likely be too busy.
Sheridan is also busy tackling another major project: Call of Duty . He's writing the script for the adaptation of Activision's military shooter franchise, with Peter Berg attached to direct . The long-awaited Call of Duty movie is slated for release on June 30, 2028 .
It's got the juice, and by juice I mean testosterone