Before Taylor Sheridan had cowboys, oilmen and mobsters taking over television, he made his name writing some seriously dark movies. And yes, the man behind Yellowstone, Landman and Tulsa King actually wrote a movie that got nominated for three Academy Awards, as difficult as that might be to believe. The film that earned him that nod became a two film crime franchise that made around $160 million worldwide, but it’s been sitting dormant for eight years. But now, Sheridan won’t be part of it any more.

Sheridan is no longer involved in the creative process in the Sicario series, with the long-awaited third movie moving forward after years of development, as reported by Deadline. After an idealistic FBI agent is recruited by a government task-force official to pursue a drug lord, she begins a perilous mission that forces her to question everything she believes and pits her against a shadowy consultant with a dangerous agenda.

Denis Villeneuve (Dune) directed the first film from Sheridan‘s screenplay. The film also stars Benicio del Toro (The Phoenician Scheme) as Alejandro Gillick, Josh Brolin (Dune: Part Two) as Matt Graver, Daniel Kaluuya (Nope) as Reggie Wayne, Victor Garber (Family Law) as Dave Jennings, Jon Bernthal (The Accountant 2) as Ted, and Jeffrey Donovan (Law & Order) as Steve Forsing. The second movie, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, arrived in 2018 without Villeneuve or Blunt. Stefano Sollima (Without Remorse) took over as director, while Sheridan returned to write the screenplay and shifted the focus toward Alejandro and Graver. Sicario 3 sees Blunt, Del Toro and Brolin will all return, with Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) taking over scripting duties, and Padraic McKinley (The Weight) stepping behind the camera.

Was ‘Sicario’ a Success?

Sicario earned $84.9 million worldwide against a reported $30 million budget, which made it a modest but clear success when it was released, which was especially pleasing considering the challenging subject matter. It also received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Sound Editing.

The thriller holds an outstanding 92% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside an 85% audience score. Audiences awarded it a CinemaScore of A-, and it’s considered to this day perhaps Sheridan’s finest piece of work, as well as the movie that set Villeneuve apart as one of Hollywood’s most promising directors, a claim that he has only cemented in the decade since.

Sicario is available to stream now.

via Collider