Sicario 2 writer Taylor Sheridan says Soldado will be like 'Sicario on steroids'

'I really wrote something I double dared Lionsgate to actually make'

Any doubt that the planned follow-up to Denis Villeneuve's cartel drama Sicario would be bigger in scope has been cast to the wayside.

The sequel - titled Soldado - will reunite Benicio del Toro and James Brolin for what is essentially more of the same, but "on steroids."

Writer Taylor Sheridan spoke to Collider about the follow-up which is the second of three standalone films set in the Sicario universe.

The screenwriter said:

"Lionsgate understood that they bought something that was a spec [on the first film]. So there was a certain amount of latitude they had to give me [on the sequel]. What usually would be a long meeting about what’s this character about, what’s his arc - we didn’t have that. They trusted me to just go do it, and with Sicario, which I’m really proud of, it really approaches some difficult subjects. I didn’t want to demean that with the second one. So I really wrote something I double dared them to actually make. Ten times more unsentimental, more vicious and really reflective... It’s funny; a lot of people think Sicario‘s about the drug war and the cartels. It’s not - it's a movie about American policy and the way that we police and [Soldado] is that on steroids.

This corroborates the film's director Stefano Sollima (Suburra) who told The Independent: "Soldado will be much more cinematic than Sicario was; it's got an incredible amount of huge action sequences."

Sheridan's next writing credit is for Hell or High Water, a crime drama from Starred Up director David Mackenzie starring Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine and Ben Foster.

Soldado is expected to be released in 2018 - Emily Blunt will not be reprising her role as FBI agent Kate Mercer while Sicario director Villeneuve's next film Arrival will debut at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). He's currently hard at work on Blade Runner 2.