Taylor Sheridan Returns to Pen Sicario 3 Trilogy Entry

Taylor Sheridan is officially back in the Sicario saddle. After years of rumor and wishful thinking, the writer-director behind the franchise has signed on to write the screenplay for Sicario 3.

The first Sicario landed in 2015 and hit hard — a tense, stylish descent into the drug war’s gray zones. Josh Brolin, Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro anchored the film, which fused moral ambiguity with razor-sharp craft. Its follow-up, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, split audiences and critics. Different casting and the absence of Emily Blunt were often blamed for the sequel’s muted reception. Still, both films carried Sheridan’s fingerprints as their screenwriter.

So what’s changed? Industry reports, first outlined by Variety, say Sheridan is preparing to move some of his work into NBCUniversal’s fold. The deal that’s been discussed publicly is massive — figures over a billion dollars have been mentioned — and the theatrical arm of that pact is set to kick in this year. Sheridan’s television commitments, however, remain tied to a Paramount agreement that runs through 2028, meaning there are scheduling and studio-crossing logistics to navigate.

According to the latest disclosures, the last two big-screen projects Sheridan will deliver for Paramount are Call of Duty and Sicario 3. That’s notable because fans have known a third Sicario was on the cards — Josh Brolin himself has hinted at another installment — but Sheridan’s formal return as screenwriter brings the project into sharper focus. Sheridan writing Sicario 3 is the clearest signal yet that this story will be steered back toward its original voice.

No director has been locked in. Producer Molly Smith has teased the possibility of Christopher McQuarrie — the Mission: Impossible stalwart — taking the helm, but nothing is set in stone. It’s easy to forget that Denis Villeneuve directed the original, then moved on to his Dune trilogy and didn’t return for the sequel; that creative handoff played a role in the franchise’s uneven continuity.

Many questions remain. Will Sheridan reunite the original cast? Can Sicario 3 recapture the moral tension that made the 2015 film feel so urgent? Or will it chart a new course, reflecting Sheridan’s evolving interests and the changing studio landscape? One thing is clear: with Sheridan back on the keyboard, this trilogy’s next chapter will be written with intent — and the borderlines of this cinematic world are about to be redrawn.