Sicario: From Myth to Reality – Inside the Brutal World of Hitmen

There’s something about the word sicario that just sticks with you. Translated directly from Spanish, it means 'hitman', but in the real world – and on screen – it covers something far more complex. It’s the shadow operating in the no-man's-land between law and anarchy. Right now, we're seeing a massive resurgence of interest in the phenomenon. On one hand, Sicario 2: Soldado is doing the rounds on TV again, and on the other, we're reminded that contract killings aren't just something that happens in Hollywood. In fact, the real-life stories are closer to home than most of us realise.

Soldado hits the screen again – and Capos is on the way

If you've watched telly lately, you've probably noticed Sicario 2: Soldado getting another airing. That 2018 film, directed by Stefano Sollima, took a sharp turn away from the first movie's moral compass (bye-bye, Emily Blunt's Kate Macer) and dove headfirst into the grime with Benicio Del Toro's Alejandro and Josh Brolin's ice-cold Matt Graver. It's a gritty ride where the lines between agent and hitman have long been erased. And for those of us who can't get enough of that universe, there's good news: according to sources close to the production, producer Basil Iwanyk has confirmed that Sicario 3 is still in the works. The working title is reportedly Sicario: Capos (meaning 'Chiefs' or 'Bosses'), and the concept is so good they've just been waiting for the right moment to finish the script. Del Toro is set to return as the enigmatic Alejandro – a character you simply never get tired of watching. Rumours are swirling that both Brolin and Blunt are also keen to pick up the thread again if it all comes together.

• Sicario (2015): Denis Villeneuve's masterpiece that introduces us to agent Kate Macer's nightmare.
• Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018): The war escalates, and Alejandro is sent on an impossible mission.
• Sicario: Capos (2026/2027?): The upcoming third film set to bring us back to the front line.

More than movies: When the hitman came to Denmark

But it's not just on the big screen that the word sicario resonates. We don't have to look further than our own capital to find stories that could have been written by Taylor Sheridan. The other day, we read about a 34-year-old gang leader now charged with ordering a hitman killing in Christiania back in 2021. An innocent 22-year-old man was killed because he was sitting in the wrong seat. It wasn't meant for him, but that's how ruthless reality is. According to details that have emerged during the investigation, the Casablanca criminal network hired hitmen from Sweden to do the dirty work. It's hardcore realism that matches the darkest fictional tales.

The same day, it was revealed that a 36-year-old Norwegian received a 13-year sentence for acting as a hitman in Denmark. He was hired by unknown masterminds to carry out a job that, thankfully, went wrong. It shows that the American Sicario phenomenon (also the title of a recent film with Danny Trejo, telling the story of the first American-born drug lord in Mexico) doesn't just belong to the New World. The shadow of the hitman falls far, even reaching Danish street corners.

What makes a good Sicario universe so unsettling is precisely this blend. We watch fiction play out with new films on the horizon, while at the same time we can open a Danish newspaper and read about a hitman indictment in the Copenhagen City Court. It's as if the line between the world we see on screen and the world we live in is becoming more and more porous. And that's exactly why we remain fascinated – because we sense that just beneath the surface, the same darkness Alejandro navigates is simmering.

So next time you see Soldado rolling across the screen, or you're looking forward to Capos landing in cinemas, just remember that hitmen aren't just something we see in movies. They're a part of our reality, and the stories from both Mexico and Nørrebro show that the sicario phenomenon is more relevant than ever.