Taylor Sheridan's Sicario Replacement Is Streaming On Paramount+ And It Officially Deserves The Hype

Published Oct 6, 2026, 1:07 PM EDT

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While Taylor Sheridan is currently best known for hit TV shows like his sprawling Yellowstone empire and neo-Western phenomenon Landman, his earliest major success came on the big screen. Sheridan wrote 2015's Sicario, the Denis Villeneuve-directed crime thriller that sent FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) into the darkest corners of the United States' attempts to thwart drug cartels.

Sheridan returned to Sicario's world for the 2018 sequel, Day of the Soldado, and there have been rumors around his return for the long-awaited Sicario 3. Sadly, however, it’s now been seemingly confirmed his time with the franchise is done. Fortunately, there is already a more-than-suitable Sheridan replacement for anyone missing his particular brand of espionage thriller, and it can be found on Paramount+. While a series and not a movie, Lioness carries more of Sicario's DNA than anything Sheridan has made since.

Zoe Saldaña stars in Lioness as senior CIA officer Joe McNamara, a former Lioness operative tasked with overseeing covert infiltration missions carried out by female agents. Inspired by a real U.S. military program, Lioness mixes international espionage, undercover operations, and political maneuvering with Sicario-levels of brutal action. For anyone who loved Sicario, Lioness should be considered essential viewing, as it’s effectively Taylor Sheridan's breakout movie expanded into a sprawling Paramount+ thriller series.

Lioness Is A Must-Watch For Sicario Fans

Ryan Green /©Paramount+/Viacom / Courtesy Everett Collection

Lioness isn't literally connected to Sicario, but the similarities between the Taylor Sheridan TV show and the 2015 movie are impossible to ignore. Both center on morally gray intelligence operations that force characters to decide how far they can go in the name of national security. Also like Sicario, Lioness deliberately avoids presenting covert warfare as clean or heroic. Missions have consequences even if they're successful, targets aren't always straightforward villains, and operatives are psychologically scared by their work.

Taylor Sheridan’s Sicario-shaped fingerprints are especially evident through Joe McNamara. Zoe Saldaña's CIA officer is considerably more experienced than Sicario's Kate, but both characters provide a human perspective on intelligence agencies willing to cross lines ordinary people never see. However, Lioness isn't simply Sicario stretched across multiple episodes.

The large ensemble cast of Lioness from seasons 1-3, and the longer runtime of a TV show, allow Sheridan to explore the people making decisions in Washington alongside those risking their lives in the field. Characters like Clandestine Service supervisor Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman) and Deputy Director of Operations Byron Westfield (Michael Kelly) provide another layer to the CIA machinery that Sicario simply doesn’t have time to explore the FBI equivalent of.

Above all else though, Lioness has the same intensity that made Sicario so good. Taylor Sheridan understands that suspense in espionage thrillers comes as much from uncertainty and compromised loyalties as gunfire. Sicario fans waiting years for the third chapter in the trilogy already have three seasons of its closest spiritual successor available to watch.

Sicario 3’s New Writer Is The Perfect Choice To Fill Taylor Sheridan’s Shoes

Taylor Sheridan not writing Sicario 3 will obviously be concerning for fans. His scripts are central to the franchise's identity. However, Sicario 3 has secured about as strong a replacement as it realistically could. As far as writers who could take Sheridan's place for Sicario 3 go, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, who has been confirmed as the movie’s screenwriter, is among the best choices possible.

Steven Knight's career makes him especially well suited to Sicario. Beyond creating Peaky Blinders, his credits also include Locke, Taboo, A Thousand Blows, House of Guinness, and SAS: Rogue Heroes, demonstrating an ability to move between crime, thriller, and character-driven drama with ease.

Those are exactly the skills Sicario 3 needs. Taylor Sheridan's screenplays for Sicario and Day of the Soldado worked because its violence was built around tension, morally complicated characters, and powerful intelligence and criminal organizations that don’t play by conventional rules. Steven Knight has spent much of his career writing similarly dangerous worlds populated by compromised protagonists. He may not be Taylor Sheridan, but he’s arguably just as successful a creative powerhouse who built his career on similar themes.

There is plenty of other reasons for optimism too. Kate, Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro), and Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) are all confirmed to return, bringing the three principal stars of the original Sicario together again. Plot details remain under wraps, but Steven Knight taking over from Taylor Sheridan makes Sicario 3 feel less like a creatively compromised sequel and more like the franchise entering an intriguing new era. What's more, for those missing Sheridan specifically, Lioness seasons 1-3 are available on Paramount+.