For most of his career, Denzel Washington wasn’t an actor who did sequels, but he eventually made an exception for the Equalizer movies. Following his first outing as Robert McCall in 2014, Washington reprised the role four years later, and back in January, the actor revealed that The Equalizer 3 is moving forward. Now Washington’s first co-star in the upcoming movie has been revealed, and it’s someone he worked with almost two decades ago.
One of Denzel Washington’s earlier action outings, 2004’s Man on Fire, followed his character, a former CIA operative named John W. Creasy, serving as a bodyguard for a young girl named Lupita, who was played by Dakota Fanning. Well, Deadline reports that Washington and Fanning are reuniting in The Equalizer 3. No details about Fanning’s character were revealed, but it’s a good bet it that Washington’s Robert McCall will follow in Creasy’s footsteps and strike up a friendly relationship with her.
Prior to Man on Fire, Dakota Johnson had appeared in movies like I Am Sam, Sweet Home Alabama, Uptown Girls and The Cat in the Hat, and her action flick with Denzel Washington further cemented her as a Hollywood talent to keep an eye on. As far as Fanning’s more recent work goes, she can currently be seen playing Susan Ford in the Showtime series The First Lady, and she also co-led the TNT series The Alienist with Daniel Brühl and Luke Evans. The actress’ notable film credits from the last several years include Ocean’s 8, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Viena and the Fantomes.
Loosely adapted from The Equalizer TV series that ran from 1985 to 1989, the same-named movies depict Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall as a former Marine-turned-DIA officer who’s retired from a life of killing for his government. However, both movies see him breaking out his old set of lethal skills to either protect someone he’s met in his personal life or as part of a revenge quest. Along with Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo also starring in the first two Equalizer movies, Washington’s co-stars in The Equalizer included Chloë Grace Moretz, Marton Csokas and David Harbour, and he was joined by Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders and Orson Bean in The Equalizer 2. There’s also an Equalizer TV series currently running on CBS that stars Queen Latifah, but it’s not connected to the film series.
While The Equalizer 3 was brought up as a possibility back in August 2018, just a few weeks after The Equalizer 2 opened, it wasn’t until Denzel Washington provided that update at the start of 2022 that we knew for a fact it was on the way. Antoine Fuqua will also reprise his directorial duties for the threequel, and this is the next movie Washington aims to tackle following his appearance in The Tragedy of MacBeth and directing Michael B. Jordan in A Journal for Jordan. With the news of Dakota Fanning’s involvement in The Equalizer 3, hopefully in the near future we’ll learn about some of the other actors joining her and Washington.
Sony Pictures has slated The Equalizer 3 for September 1, 2023. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for updates on its progress and our coverage on other movies.