When Sicario‘s world of drug cartels and daring FBI agents comes back to our screens, it is going to look a bit different, according to Deadline. Titled Soldado, the sequel will most notably not feature the original’s star Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow) and will instead focus on the stories of her two co-stars, Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) and Benicio del Toro (Snatch). Original director Dennis Villeneuve is also out, with Italian director Stefano Sollima taking over the reigns as his first English-language feature.
Villeneuve’s (Prisoners) 2015 crime thriller featured Blunt as a nubile FBI agent sent into Mexico with Brolin’s Matt Graver and his enigmatic partner – played by del Toro – in order to take down a notorious drug cartel responsible for rampant crime and violence on both sides of the border. The film was both a critical and box office success, earning the film several technical Oscar nominations.
Soldado will be set in the same world, however, it will exclusively focus on del Toro’s Alejandro Gillick and his continued partnership with Graver. The story, written again by screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, will concern itself with the goods and persons being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border within the secret system of tunnels connecting the two countries.
Lionsgate and Black Star Media are handling financing and distribution once again. The studios are hoping to kick off production in the fall.
Sollima is most known for his Italian miniseries Gomorra. Coming up, Brolin will begin production on No Exit with Miles Teller, Taylor Kitsch, and Jennifer Connolly, as well as on George Clooney’s Suburbicon. Del Toro has Terrence Malick‘s Weightless up ahead as well as Star Wars: Episode VIII.
We will have more on Soldado as details are released.