Taylor Sheridan Finally Sets the Record Straight on His Controversial Female Lead—and Sends a Blunt Message to Critics

Here is the short version: Sicario almost got its lead character flipped to a man so the studio could chase a bigger budget. Taylor Sheridan told them exactly where they could stick that idea. Emily Blunt called the whole thing gross. And then the movie crushed anyway.

The meeting that almost changed Sicario

Back in 2014, when Taylor Sheridan was shopping the Sicario script, a producer left him stewing in the lobby for 25 minutes, brought him in, and pitched a tweak that would add millions to the budget: make FBI agent Kate Macer a guy and attach a bankable star. Sheridan did not workshop his feelings.

"Go f*ck yourself."

That exchange happened a full year before Denis Villeneuve came aboard. The pressure wasn't about story; it was money math. Swap in a male lead, unlock a bigger check.

Blunt had thoughts (and she was right)

Emily Blunt, who ended up playing Kate, talked about this when Sicario rolled out in 2015. She said the push to change the character's gender came from the belief the budget could jump by roughly a third if Kate became a man. Her take:

"That's so gross. You completely alter the dynamic of the piece. The interesting thing for the audience is that she is a woman."

Villeneuve backed keeping Kate female the whole way. He said at Cannes in 2015 that Sheridan got asked more than once to rewrite Kate as a man, and the answer stayed no.

Why Kate is written the way she is

Sheridan based Kate on a real woman he met who worked in a job comparable to a CIA operative. And Kate's passivity in the story? That's intentional. She is supposed to be the audience's point of view while everyone else plays moral 3D chess around her.

"She has to be the eyes of the audience. She has to say the things we're thinking."

Which is a tough needle to thread. The character mostly observes and questions, and that only works if the actor is strong enough to make stillness compelling. Enter Blunt.

The results

• Box office: $84.9 million worldwide on a $30 million budget.
• Critics: 91% on Rotten Tomatoes (280+ reviews) and an 82 on Metacritic, which is the nice way of saying universally acclaimed.
• Oscars: Three nominations — Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Editing.
• Blunt: Multiple acting nominations from critics groups, including Critics' Choice, Empire, and Saturn.

Where to watch it now

In the U.S., Sicario is currently streaming on Peacock Premium and Peacock Premium Plus. Elsewhere, availability varies, and you can always rent or buy it digitally on the usual platforms.

What it did for Sheridan

Sicario lit the fuse. Sheridan followed with his Oscar-nominated Hell or High Water script in 2016 and then directed Wind River in 2017. On TV, he built the Yellowstone machine and spun it into 1883, 1923, and more on the way. And in October 2025, he signed a massive deal with NBCUniversal that kicks in starting in 2029 — a pretty loud confirmation that he's one of the most powerful creatives working right now.

As for the original note to turn Kate into Ken to shake loose more cash: it's the kind of studio logic that never seems to die. Sicario is a neat counterexample — keep the perspective that makes the story different, and the audience shows up anyway. What do you think: does the budget-first approach justify gender-flipping leads, or is that just missing the point?