Sicario 2: Soldado 2018

Sicario was one of the most memorable movies of 2015, a tense, atmospheric thriller about the war against Mexican drug cartels and the lengths the U.S. government would go to in its quest to stop them. While Sicario didn’t seem to lend itself to a sequel, Lionsgate announced in June 2016 that it was slating Sicario 2: Soldado for 2018. On Tuesday, the trailer dropped for Soldado, and it certainly looks like a departure from its predecessor.

The movie will be without Oscar-nominated director Denis Villeneuve, renowned cinematographer Roger Deakins, and star Emily Blunt—but Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water, Wind River) returned to write the script, and Benicio Del Toro is back as Alejandro Gillick, the titular, terrifying hitman. 

Where Sicario was focused on creating a very distinct, unsettling atmosphere, Soldado looks like a perpetual storm of chaos and gunfire, akin to the craziest moments of Netflix’s Narcos. Returning CIA agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) has been given carte blanche for handling the escalating drug wars that are affecting the U.S.-Mexico border. In other words, if you were hoping for a Sicario sequel that would fully unleash Benicio Del Toro, I have good news. 

Denis Villeneuve’s FBI vs cartels thriller Sicario might not have seemed like an obvious project to get the sequel treatment — but the prospect of follow-up Soldado shows plenty of promise. Shifting the focus from drugs to human trafficking, it looks set to inhabit the same murky territory of the original, with plenty of the cast returning. One of those is Benicio Del Toro’s hitman Alejandro, who can be seen in Empire’s exclusive new image from the film.

While Josh Brolin’s CIA officer Matt is bumped up to the lead role for Soldado, Del Toro is still a major figure in the film. “It is Josh’s story, but it’s very much a two-hander,” producer Erica Lee told Empire. “Alejandro will always be the soul of Sicario movies. He is the heart that beats within them. He is our protagonist. And antagonist, in a way.”
Stepping into the director’s chair — Denis Villeneuve was busy flooding Ryan Gosling in neon on Blade Runner 2049 — is Stefano Sollima, behind Gomorrah and Suburra, while the script once again comes from celebrated screenwriter Taylor Sheridan. Since the original Sicario, his screenplays for Hell or High Water and Wind River have cemented him as one of the sharpest thriller-writers in the game.
Find out more info about Sicario 2 Soldado in the new issue of Empire, which hits newsstands today. The film will thunder into UK cinemas on June 29.