Denzel Washington Making Sequel To His Most Underrated Movie?
Director Antoine Fuqua has expressed interest in continuing the story of Denzel Washington’s character, Chisolm, from The Magnificent Seven. As ComicBook.com reports, while promoting Equalizer 3, the director mentioned that he would like to revisit Chisolm. The third Equalizer film is the latest film to bring the auteur and the actor and also represents Fuqua’s first film trilogy.
“I think, Magnificent 7, I always wanted that character [Chisolm] to have more of a story. I wanted a bigger story, an arc with that character, you know? Very cool guy.”
Antoine Fuqua
Both his willingness to continue a franchise and his continued work with Denzel Washington provide some hope for a Magnificent Seven sequel. The Emancipation and Training Day director clearly has an ongoing collaborative relationship with the star, which might have something to do with his willingness to make more follow-up films. The 2016 Western was a change of pace in many ways for both artists and could certainly spawn another film or two.
A remake of the 1960 original, The Magnificent Seven stars Denzel Washington as the leader of an outlaw group. The original concept has been remade several times for the large and small screens and was itself a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s classic Seven Samurai. The original also had three sequels: Return of the Seven (1966), Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969), and The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)
Amazon Is Working On A Magnificent Seven Series
Calling Denzel Washington’s character a “very cool guy” Fuqua said he would be interested in telling a further story that he always felt Chisolm deserved. It would be interesting, though, to see how such a film would compete with the new Amazon Studios Magnificent Seven series, which is being written and executive produced by Nic Pizzolatto of True Detective fame. In any case, there is definitely room for another movie.
Whether Denzel Washington would be willing to return for another Magnificent Seven film or not is unknown. But he did work with Fuqua again on Equalizer 3, along with Richard Wenk, who was also in the 2016 adaptation. That film also featured Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt, and Vincent D’Onofrio, along with Haley Bennett, Martin Sensmeier, and Peter Sarsgaard.
Despite—or perhaps because of—multiple versions and interpretations before and after Denzel Washington, The Magnificent Seven continues to garner interest and new productions on both large and small screens.
Seeing Washington in a Western again would be great and we’re always up for something new from Fuqua. Of course, at the present, no new productions are happening during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which is why Fuqua is doing Equalizer press without the film’s star.
If the partnership between Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington remains fruitful, it’s possible we could see a Magnificent Seven sequel at some point in the future. As Amazon digs further into the MGM vault for more material, it’s plausible the film sequel could be greenlit even with the series in production, or perhaps after it is complete.
In any case, all is speculation at the present moment, though we would certainly be interested in seeing Washington as an Old West gunslinger at least once more.
It seems The Magnificent Seven is of perennial interest and appeal, as is Denzel Washington, so we’ll be waiting to see what the future holds.
