Taylor Sheridan’s New Action Thriller Is Lioness Meets Sicario

Published Nov 15, 2026, 3:30 PM EST Greg is a Lead TV Writer & Critic at Screen Rant with expertise in new streaming releases. He's published over 3000 articles at SR, including weekly recommendation guides and dozens of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. He previously worked in Development at ABC Television & Lawrence Bender Productions. Greg majored in Film Production at Chapman University's Dodge College. Greg also has years of broadcast TV production experience at major networks such as NBC, TNT, and ESPN. He currently lives in Greater Boston. Taylor Sheridan’s new action thriller centers on a DEA black-ops mission, evoking the covert intrigue of Lioness and the cartel conflict of Sicario. The new Sheridan movie features a 1923 star as an ex-commando leading an off-the-books DEA team against CIA-protected drug dealers. The film was written by Sheridan, marking his first feature film as a screenwriter since 2021's Those Who Wish Me Dead. Along with Sheridan's new Call of Duty movie, it is one of the acclaimed writer/producer's most highly anticipated projects in the coming years. Taylor Sheridan's upcoming action thriller F.A.S.T. combines Sicario's cartel warfare with Lioness' CIA black ops. F.A.S.T. follows a former special ops commando who leads a covert strike team to take down local drug dealers, featuring a stellar ensemble cast led by Brandon Sklenar, Sam Claflin, Jason Clarke, LaKeith Stanfield, and more. The upcoming movie is currently slated for a May 2027 release and is directed by Ben Richardson, the cinematographer of Wind River, who has also worked on previous Sheridan projects such as Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, and 1883. It will be the 2-time Emmy nominee's feature film debut as a director after directing 13 episodes of 1923. Taylor Sheridan’s F.A.S.T. Follows A Special Forces Veteran On A DEA Mission Taylor Sheridan's upcoming action thriller F.A.S.T. sounds like the ideal combination of two of his most celebrated projects, Lioness and Sicario. The military-based thriller movie stars 1923 star Brandon Sklenar as an ex-special ops officer who struggles to rebuild his life as a civilian after returning home to the United States. Sklenar's protagonist remains unnamed at this time, but it has been reported that the character will be a highly trained and experienced operative who searches for new meaning and stability outside of the armed forces. This is somewhat similar to Zoe Saldaña's main character in Lioness, Joe McNamara, who fails to balance her work and home lives cohesively. F.A.S.T. was originally slated to be released in April 2027 but was confirmed by Warner Bros. to be officially released on May 14 of next year. Sklenar's protagonist gets a new lease on life after being recruited by the DEA to go after a dangerous group of drug traffickers who are surprisingly supported by the CIA. The core conflict, as told through the eyes of Sklenar's protagonist, exposes a theoretical conflict between the two government agencies that have very opposite agendas. This theme is consistent with both Lioness and Sicario, in which American agencies are actually at odds with each other, with top-level CIA manipulation and corruption being the underlying core of the narrative. F.A.S.T. Combines Lioness’ Black Ops Action With Sicario’s Cartel Warfare While F.A.S.T. has no confirmed association with Lioness or Sicario, the general concept of the upcoming Sheridan film is virtually cut from the same cloth and represents a signature characteristic within Sheridan's growing movie and television universe. Several instances in Lioness' first two seasons lean into this exact theme of covert operations, specifically the Lioness program itself, in which Joe recruits and enlists several military personnel through CIA black ops operations. While Lioness paints the CIA in a somewhat more patriotic light than F.A.S.T. seemingly intends to, it's completely on brand for Sheridan to infuse deep-seated CIA corruption as a plot framework. As for similarities with Sicario, F.A.S.T. is even more thematically attuned to CIA manipulation, even using other agencies such as the FBI as a cover for their top-secret missions. Emily Blunt's protagonist, Kate, is an FBI agent who discovers that her task force is nothing but an instrument for a grand CIA strategy, centering on a dangerous prisoner extraction and the broader war on drugs. Given all this, Taylor Sheridan's upcoming action thriller F.A.S.T. sounds like the perfect blend of Lioness and Sicario and is poised to be another successful entry in Sheridan's filmography when it releases next Spring. F.A.S.T. Release Date April 23, 2027 Director Ben Richardson Writers Taylor Sheridan Cast Brandon Sklenar Spencer Dutton