Sicario: From the Myth of the Hitman to the Brutal World of Reality

There's something about the word sicario that just sticks with you. Translated directly, it means "hitman" or "contract killer" in Spanish, 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 witnessing a massive resurgence of interest in the phenomenon. On one hand, Sicario 2: Soldado is blazing across our TV screens again, and on the other, we're grimly 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 might think.

Soldado is Blazing on Screen – and Capos is on the Way

If you've watched telly recently, 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 film's moral compass (farewell, Emily Blunt's Kate Macer) and instead plunged headfirst into the murky depths with Benicio Del Toro's Alejandro and Josh Brolin's ice-cold Matt Graver. It's a brutal affair where the lines between agent and hitman have long since 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 pipeline. The working title is reportedly Sicario: Capos (meaning "Chiefs" or "Bosses"), and the idea is so compelling they've just been waiting for the right moment to finish writing it. Del Toro is set to return as the enigmatic Alejandro – a character you simply never tire of watching. Rumours are swirling that both Brolin and Blunt are also ready to pick up the thread again, if everything falls into place.

• 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 need look no further than our own capital city to find stories that could have been penned by Taylor Sheridan. The other day, we read about a 34-year-old gang leader now charged with ordering a contract 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 the ruthless nature of reality. According to information that has come to light during the investigation, the Casablanca criminal network hired hitmen from Sweden to do their dirty work. It's a harsh dose of realism that matches the darkest fictional tales.

On the same day, it was reported that a 36-year-old Norwegian man received a 13-year prison sentence for acting as a hitman in Denmark. He was hired by unknown masterminds to carry out a job that, fortunately, went wrong. This shows that the phenomenon of the American Sicario (also the title of a recent film starring Danny Trejo, telling the story of the first American-born drug lord in Mexico) isn't confined to the New World. The hitman's shadow falls far and wide, even reaching Danish street corners.

What makes a good Sicario universe so unsettling is precisely this blending of worlds. We watch fiction unfold 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 boundary between the world we see on screen and the world we live in is becoming increasingly porous. And that's exactly why we remain so fascinated – because we sense that just beneath the surface, the same darkness Alejandro navigates is simmering away.

So, the next time you catch Soldado playing on TV, or find yourself looking forward to Capos landing in cinemas, just remember that hitmen aren't just figures we see in films. They are a part of our reality, and the stories from both Mexico and Nørrebro show that the sicario phenomenon is more relevant than ever.