Liam Neeson isn’t the only aging veteran actor who gets to make a career out of playing a retired badass with a particular set of skills. Sure, Neeson seems to have made an entire career out of this sort of thing, but he doesn’t hold the monopoly on the idea. That’s where Denzel Washington and his ‘Equalizer’ franchise comes in. And it appears the actor is ready to dust off his gun and fists to beat the hell out of bad guys once again.
Speaking to Collider, while promoting his new film, “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” Denzel Washington confirmed “The Equalizer 3” is not only in development but should be happening a lot sooner than we realize.
“They have written the third ‘Equalizer,’ so I’m scheduled to do that,” said Washington. “So I gotta get in shape and start beating people up again. I get to beat people up again. ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ and then going and beating some people up. Can’t get any better, right?”
While Washington doesn’t confirm that Antoine Fuqua is going to return to direct the third film in the franchise, Collider says the filmmaker is in talks to come back for “The Equalizer 3.” I mean, if Washington is going to return, you have to assume Fuqua is on-board as well.
“The Equalizer” franchise is inspired by the ‘80s TV series of the same name (which was also recently rebooted as a new CBS series starring Queen Latifah). The films follow the story of a former U.S. Marine turned DIA intelligence officer as he comes back into action to…well, “beat people up,” as Washington so eloquently put it. The first film was a big hit in 2014 when it was released, with the sequel, aptly titled “The Equalizer 2” coming in 2018. Since then, despite Fuqua saying he was interested in returning, there hasn’t been confirmation about it happening until now.
If production on the film is to begin this year, as is being reported, we’ll likely see the new ‘Equalizer’ film arriving in 2023.
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