Guns are about to be a’blazin’ on the Amalfi Coast, as filming is officially underway for The Equalizer 3. A series of photos released today reveals all the main players in the film: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, and Gaia Scodellaro, along with the franchise director, Antoine Fuqua. While production has kept us up to date when it comes to casting announcements, a major detail has been missing from all the information drops: a plot. And, if you thought that today’s photos would give us something more in the way of a storyline, you’d be dead wrong. While it’s exciting to see the film’s stars and director smiling and gathered together, no one’s striking a pose in character, leaving us with only one answer in a sea of questions surrounding the third film in Fuqua’s trilogy.
We first found out that Washington would be returning to his fan favorite role of Robert McCall earlier this year when the actor subtly dropped the info during an interview while chatting about his titular part in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. Several months later in June, we received word that Fanning would co-star alongside Washington. The project will mark a reunion for the duo who worked together almost 20-years ago in Tony Scott’s action based drama Man of Fire. With smiles abounding between the two in the newly released photos, we’re guessing there’s plenty for them to catch up on all these years later. News of Scodellaro’s casting came just last week, with the You Me and the Apocalypse star rounding out the leading cast of the highly anticipated action flick.
Based on characters created by Richard Lindheim and Michael Sloan, The Equalizer is a reboot of the legendary '80s television series of the same name. While those pesky plot details are still eluding us, we can count on one thing - there will be plenty of butt kicking. The franchise follows a retired intelligence agent named Robert McCall who transfers his honed in skills to the world of private investigation. Along with the film versions led by Washington, there’s also a CBS series heading into its third season with Queen Latifah starring as Robyn McCall.
The first of Fuqua’s The Equalizer films came out in 2014 with the second to follow in 2018. Richard Wenk has served each production as its writer, something he’ll be continuing to do for the third film. In the past, we’ve seen Robert McCall take on the Russian mafia and track down the bad guys who brutally murdered his friend, so there’s no telling where Wenk and Fuqua will take us in The Equalizer 3.
You can check out the happy cast and their director in the photos below as well as get a taste of the action via a trailer for The Equalizer 2. The Equalizer 3 is set to hit theaters on September 1, 2023.
