The Equalizer 2 is one of those sequels you forget are happening until new news breaks. This is not an insult. It's just that the major tentpole sequels -- superhero franchises and incredible bouts of nostalgia (like Jurassic World) -- get more attention than a sequel to a well-performing autumn hit like Denzel Washington's The Equalizer. And yet, the movie did do enough business to land itself a follow up, and today we are learning that Narcos and Game of Thrones standout Pedro Pascal is being eyed to play the main villain in The Equalizer 2.
The major players are returning for The Equalizer 2, including Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua (The Magnificent Seven). The movies seem to be serialized, and won't build off of the story of the first movie, taking things in a new direction. But this makes sense, as The Equalizer movie is adapted from a popular TV show in the mid-1980s. On the show, Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) was a retired intelligence agent who helped clients "equalize" their odds when they ran into trouble with evil folks. That's what Denzel did in the first Equalizer movie, helping Chloe Moretz take down a gaggle of Russian gangsters. It looked like this.
Pedro Pascal, who Variety attaches to The Equalizer 2, is on a hot streak, and has been since The Good Wife in 2009. He has stayed extremely busy on television, peaking with a turn on Narcos, as well as playing Oberyn Martell on HBO's Game of Thrones. His stint on that show won't be forgotten. But since, he has tapped into several big-screen roles, from Matt Damon's The Great Wall earlier this year to the upcoming Kingsman: The Golden Circle. From there, he'll terrify Denzel Washington in an as-yet-identified villainous role.
So, why is The Equalizer 2 happening? Because The Equalizer, released in 2014, banked $100M domestically and almost got that amount overseas. The worldwide gross, according to BoxOfficeMojo, is $192 million and the reviews were extremely positive. Getting Denzel Washington to agree to come back makes this happen, because the two-time Oscar winner hasn't done a sequel yet. But he routinely works with Antoine Fuqua, and if he two of them have an idea for a story that warrants The Equalizer 2, then we're eager to see what they put up on screen.
We'll continue to track the progress of The Equalizer 2, which is working towards a Sept. 14, 2018 release date. That's exactly the window that worked for the first movie. Why fix what isn't broken? And visit our Upcoming Movie Release Date feature to find out when movies you are excited to see are finally hitting theaters.
