In a new interview with Collider, screenwriter Taylor Sheridan says that Sicario 2 is going to be an even gnarlier sit than Denis Villenueve's original. Jesus.

Here's the quote:

“Lionsgate understood that they bought something that was a spec (on the original Sicario). So there was a certain amount of latitude they had to give me (on Sicario 2). 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 (Sicario 2) is that on steroids.”

I'm having trouble imagining how bleak Sicario 2 will have to be in order to be "ten times more unsentimental" than the original, but I can easily imagine a hundred ways - none of them particularly pleasant - in which Sicario 2 could be ten times more vicious. This is an ugly world Sheridan's playing in, and I'm curious to see how far he and director Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah) are willing to take things.

Reminder: Emily Blunt won't be back for Sicario 2, but Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin will be. The sequel begins shooting shortly, with a third Sicario film (which we know next to nothing about at this time) due sometime after that. I dunno about you guys, but I'm pumped.