On last week’s Empire podcast, Denzel Washington confirmed that reports of his premature retirement were greatly exaggerated. Also on last week’s Empire podcast, the Gladiator II star was asked by our very own Chris Hewitt whether he’d ever be tempted to revisit the character of Robert McCall — aka The Equalizer — in future Equalizer movies: Washington neither confirmed nor denied, instead opting for a five-second stare into the interviewer’s soul. Now, in a remarkable turn of events, the senior Washington has made an about-face, confirming to Esquire in an interview that not only could he be tempted to play McCall again, but he will — twice!
While the last brace of movies in the Equalizer trilogy swept up a cool near-$400 million at the box office, the kind of financial performance that would ordinarily make further sequels a virtual guarantee, both Washington and director Antoine Fuqua let The Equalizer 3 play out like a swansong for former secret agent McCall, letting him slink off into blissful retirement. But, as the franchise’s talismanic hero told Esquire, Equalizer 4 and 5 are on their way after all. “I told them I would do another Equalizer, and we’re doing four and five,” said Washington. “More people are happy about that — people love those daggone _Equalizer_s. But I’ve come to realize that the Equalizer films are for me, too, because they’re for the people. They want me to go get the bad guys. ‘We can’t get them, so you go get them.’ And I say, Okay, I’ll get them! Just wait right there. I’ll be right back!”
Now, it’s worth noting that there’s been no official word as of yet from Fuqua or from Sony to confirm these future Equalizer films. And, subsequently, we don’t know what said films will entail or who will appear alongside Washington in them — or indeed whether Fuqua will return to helm. But the crucial thing to remember is that Denzel Washington, the titular Equalizer in The Equalizer franchise, has said that The Equalizer 4 and The Equalizer 5 are happening. And if Denzel Washington says that they’re happening, then who are any of us to tell him that they’re not? Would you want to? Exactly! So The Equalizer 4 and 5 are coming soon…