Director Stefano Sollima's sequel to 2015's acclaimed cartel movie Sicario is missing a pretty major component of the original – and that is Emily Blunt's character Kate Macer.
We've known for a while that Blunt wouldn't be returning for Sicario 2 – with screenwriter Taylor Sheridan previously revealing it was his idea not to see Kate return – but now Sollima has shared his own thoughts on why Kate couldn't be a part of Day of the Soldado.
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Speaking to Business Insider, he explained: "Emily Blunt is an amazing actress, but her role was sort of a moral guidance for the audience. In [Sicario: Day of the] Soldado we don't have that.
"This is closer to my vision of storytelling. I prefer not to have a moral guidance for the audience."
Sollima also added that he believes movies can help provoke discussions, which is why he likes making gangster movies like Sicario: Day of the Soldado so much.
"You have some code of the genre that you're playing with, and this means you are going to tell the dark side of something with a lot of action," Sollima said.
"But if you're smart enough, through the lens of the genre, you can reflect on the reality of the world around you."
His comments follow on from another interview Sollima gave recently, in which he explained he knew it was "cheeky" to make a sequel to Denis Villeneuve's Emily Blunt-starring first film.
"I knew the audience would wonder why we were doing a sequel to such a beautiful movie, but I felt the idea was so original," he explained.
"We weren't making a franchise, but more of a saga. We're [now] exploring this world with different points of view."
Sicario: Day of the Soldado is in cinemas now.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.
In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.
