Denzel Washington Teases Equalizer 3 Will be His Last Film in the Series

AUGUST 1, 2023

BY DAN GIROLAMO

The end is near for Robert McCall as Denzel Washington readies to play the elite assassin one last time in The Equalizer 3. While speaking with Empire, Washington elaborated on McCall’s future in the third chapter, teasing that it will be his final appearance in the series.

“I don’t want to say he’s found happiness, and I don’t want to give it all away, but he meets someone lovely, he’s in a lovely town and he seems to be at peace,” Washington said. “That seems to be a good place to stop.”

Director Antoine Fuqua also shares Washington’s sentiment regarding The Equalizer 3, their fifth collaboration, as the end of a trilogy.

“This is it. Robert McCall, the working-man hero, at some point he’s got to walk away from it,” Fuqua said. “At some point, someone else has to pick up the ball and serve justice. He’s served his justice. He’s in a foreign place, he’s trying to find a home, find a place in the world. That’s really what’s important.”

What to Expect in The Equalizer 3?

“Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past and finds a strange solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed,” the official synopsis from Sony reads. “Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy, he discovers his new friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends’ protector by taking on the mafia.”

Washington reprises the role of Robert McCall for the third time after 2014’s The Equalizer and 2018’s The Equalizer 2. Dakota Fanning, who starred alongside Washington in 2004’s Man on Fire, joins the cast for The Equalizer 3. The ensemble also features David Denman, Eugenio Mastrandrea, Salvatore Ruocco, Andrea Scarduzio, Sonia Ben Ammar, and Remo Girone.

Fuqua returns to direct the third film after serving in the same role for the previous two entries. Richard Wenk wrote the screenplay for The Equalizer 3, with the characters based on the CBS television series of the same name from 1985-1989. Washington and Fuqua serve as producers, along with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Clayton Townsend, Steve Tisch, Tony Eldridge, and Alex Siskin.

Sony Pictures Releasing is set to release The Equalizer 3 in theaters on September 1, 2023.