Hold onto your popcorn, folks—Sicario: Day of the Soldado just slashed its way back into our lives, landing at #3 on Netflix’s U.S. charts this week like a cartel kingpin reclaiming his throne. The 2018 sequel to the gritty, pulse-pounding Sicario has fans buzzing louder than a border chase helicopter, proving that Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin still have that star power to draw us in—ads or no ads. But here’s the real kicker: with this streaming resurgence, whispers of a third installment are heating up faster than a desert showdown. Is Sicario 3 finally ready to pull the trigger?
Let’s rewind a sec. Day of the Soldado, penned by Yellowstone maestro Taylor Sheridan and directed by Stefano Sollima, ditched Emily Blunt’s moral compass from the first film and doubled down on the brooding chaos of del Toro’s Alejandro and Brolin’s Matt Graver. It’s a testosterone-fueled rollercoaster—less introspective poetry, more bullets and bravado. And apparently, Netflix viewers are eating it up like it’s the last taco at the cartel cookout. Since dropping on the platform earlier this week, it’s outgunned rom-coms and disaster flicks alike, sitting pretty behind One of Them Days and The Life List. Take that, Gerard Butler’s Geostorm!
The chatter’s already spilling over into social media, where fans are losing their minds—and maybe a little sleep—over this unexpected revival. One X user gushed, “Benicio del Toro in Sicario 2 on Netflix? I’m canceling my weekend plans!” Another quipped, “Josh Brolin’s squint deserves its own Oscar category—give this man a trilogy already!” Even producer Erica Lee couldn’t resist stirring the pot in a recent MovieWeb chat, teasing, “We’re trying to figure out what that storyline is that merits a third movie.” Oh, Erica, you sly fox—don’t toy with our hearts like that!
Back in 2022, Brolin himself fanned the flames when he told The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s been written and it’s been rewritten… We think it deserves a third one if we can make it in the way that we want to. So don’t give up!” Cue the collective gasp from fans who’ve been clutching their Sicario Blu-rays like sacred relics. The man’s out here dropping hints like spent shell casings, and we’re ready to storm the box office—or at least refresh Netflix obsessively.
Of course, not everyone’s on board the hype train. Some purists still mourn the absence of Denis Villeneuve’s moody genius from the first film, with one X post snarking, “Sicario 2 is just Sicario with more explosions and less soul—prove me wrong.” Fair, but when del Toro’s staring down a target with those haunted eyes, who needs soul when you’ve got style? The sequel’s 62% Rotten Tomatoes score might not scream “masterpiece,” but its streaming domination says audiences don’t care—they’re here for the thrills, not the think pieces.
So, where does this leave us? With Day of the Soldado flexing its muscles on Netflix, the pressure’s on for Sicario: Capos (yep, that’s the rumored title) to deliver. Will Sheridan cook up another neo-Western banger? Will del Toro and Brolin reload for round three? Or—and here’s the wild card—could Emily Blunt stage a surprise comeback to reclaim her spot in this gritty saga? One thing’s for sure: the Sicario faithful are watching, waiting, and probably tweeting about it right now. Stay tuned—this cartel’s far from done cutting its way through Hollywood!