Taylor Sheridan’s First Movie Hits Netflix’s Top 10 and It’s Not a Western Epic

Every week, Netflix reveals its Top 10 lists for the week prior, ranking its most-viewed movies and TV shows. One of the week’s top films from March 3-9 is not an original movie or a recent blockbuster but a 10-year-old crime drama starring Emily Blunt. While it may seem like a random movie to be trending, Sicario, the 2015 thriller featuring Blunt as an FBI special agent tasked with apprehending a lieutenant in a Mexican drug cartel, was written by Yellowstone showrunner Taylor Sheridan and has several other huge names attached, boosting its star power and appeal.

Sicario is a great crime thriller that was nominated for three Oscars: Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Sound Editing. In hindsight, what truly sets the film apart is the fact that it was directed by Oscar nominee Denis Villeneuve, who would go on to direct Blade Runner 2049 and the Dune sequels, and it was the first script from Taylor Sheridan. Not a bad pedigree and that’s to say nothing of the impressive ensemble. Along with Blunt, the cast includes A-list talent Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin, as well as a pre-Get Out Daniel Kaluuya, and Jon Bernthal, who was at the peak of his popularity thanks to The Walking Dead. (Victor Garber, a.k.a. Sydney Bristow’s cold and calculating Alias daddy, also co-stars, confirming my personal theory that every project he’s in is better for it.)

Sheridan was not the name that he is today when Sicario came out but it put him on the map as a writer, earning him a Writer’s Guild of America award for Best Original Screenplay. And while Sicario does feature some of the same themes relating to power and the conflict between those who live in and outside of the law that Yellowstone is known for, it’s a far cry from the Dutton universe Sheridan went on to create. (Sicario honestly shares much more DNA with one of Sheridan’s other non-Yellowstone projects, Special Ops: Lioness, the Paramount Plus show about a clandestine all-female CIA program, which stars Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldaña.)

Ever since Sicario dropped on Netflix on March 1, it has gained popularity and sits at No. 5 on the list of most popular English-language movies. While the film earned positive reviews and has been well-respected since it came out, the fact that its writer and director have become two of Hollywood’s biggest players in the 10 years since it was released seem likely to have helped the film reach a broader fan base. And if you’ve already caught Sicario on Netflix, you can watch the film’s less-successful but still entertaining Sheridan-penned sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, on Paramount Plus.