Josh Brolin Confirms ‘Sicario 3’ Production Next Year, Praises ‘Undeniable’ Script

Star of the show Josh Brolin has confirmed that Sicario 3 will go into production next year, praising writer Steven Knight’s “undeniable” script. The announcement comes as Brolin promotes his new emotional survival film, Whalefall, which he says has profoundly affected him as a father and a son.

Sicario 3 is set to be directed by Padraic McKinley and written by Steven Knight, with Josh Brolin confirming production will begin in 2027. “It’s incredible, it’s undeniable.” Brolin, who recently starred in the survival drama Whalefall, also said he, Emily Blunt, and Benicio del Toro are all returning to the franchise.

In Brian Duffield’s Whalefall, now in theaters, Brolin is Mitt Gardiner, a seafaring father diagnosed with mesothelioma who commits suicide by weighing himself down and jumping off his boat near Monastery Beach, California. The film continues with his estranged son, Jay (Austin Abrams), attempting to locate his father’s remains and becoming trapped in a sperm whale.

Brolin said that playing the role made him “break down emotionally” as he compared it to being a parent himself and the son of actor James Brolin.

“You have to let [your children] fall and scrape their emotional and psychic knees and make their own decisions,” Brolin told The Hollywood Reporter on October 16, 2026. It makes me think about the impact [my father] wanted to have. “When you’re an adolescent, and you see something means so much to a parent, it’s just an opportunity to rebel.” Then you get older, and you’re like, ‘Oh man, he really put in the work.’

In a nod to the film’s central metaphor, director Brian Duffield recorded Brolin’s actual heartbeat before filming. He played it throughout the two months Abrams spent inside the sets of the practical whale-stomachs, then sweetened it in postproduction to become the whale’s heartbeat.

Brolin gave the most concrete update yet on the long-awaited third installment of the Sicario franchise, revealing that the project has finally overcome years of development obstacles.

“We were always reading scripts. We wanted to do it all the time. “We didn’t want to take this long, but you have Benny [Del Toro] and me and Emily [Blunt] looking at stuff and reacting to filmmakers or scripts differently,” Brolin said. “But then Steven Knight wrote an amazing novel, and it was undeniable. We all answered the same. So we’re really excited to be doing that.” “We’ll do it next year.”

Brolin also hinted at a major character evolution for his CIA operative, Matt Graver, following the morally ambiguous events of Sicario: Day of the Soldado.

“You’re going to get to see a side of Matt Graver that you haven’t seen in the past,” Brolin added.

Sicario 3 has been greenlit, ending years of uncertainty over the acclaimed thriller franchise that has been lying fallow since 2018’s Day of the Soldado. That the original trio of Blunt, del Toro and Brolin are all returning, plus a script by Steven Knight (who is also writing a James Bond film for original Sicario director Denis Villeneuve) indicates this is a high priority revival for the studio.

Meanwhile, Whalefall marks a major dramatic shift for Brolin, who has shown a willingness to helm intense, character-driven survival stories since his Amazon series Outer Range was canceled in 2024.

Sicario 3 is set to begin principal photography in 2027. Padraic “Pat” McKinley, who directed the thriller The Weight, will direct. The studio has not set an official release date. Meanwhile, Whalefall continues its run in national theaters.

Is there a Sicario 3 in the works?
Yes. In October 2026, Josh Brolin confirmed that Sicario 3 has an approved script and is slated to begin production in 2027.

Who is writing and directing Sicario 3?
The film will be based on a script by Steven Knight and directed by Padraic ‘Pat’ McKinley.

What is Whalefall?
Whalefall is a survival drama helmed by Brian Duffield. The story is about a young man who tries to recover the body of his estranged father after he commits suicide and becomes trapped inside a sperm whale, forcing him to use the survival techniques his father taught him.