Denzel Washington Shuts Down Talks of His Retirement

November 16, 2024 1

"Gladiator II" - Royal Film Performance and Global Premiere

Source: Kate Green / Getty

It’s official: Denzel Washington is still in the game.

While on a press run to promote the November 22 release of Gladiator II, Washington reflected on his career and rattled off the next few films he’d be appearing in, making it seem like after those movies wrapped, he’d be retiring from the industry.

Of course longtime fans were disheartened to hear that the actor, who turns 70 next month, was calling it quits. And as the interview made its way around the web, word on the street was DW was about to retire.

Fortunately in a November 13 interview, Washington explained that he wasn’t leaving the industry entirely, but that he’d only accept future roles that truly spoke to him.

“I didn’t say I was going to go into retirement. I said that it has to be a level of interest for me. I’m more interested in getting behind the camera, so that’s about five years out,” Washington said.

“I’m not retiring,” he added, saying he realizes his age makes it more difficult to keep up with the younger generation of action stars. “It’s not like on June 5, that’s it. But to think that I’m going to run as far as they are or as far as you are, I’d be a fool.”

Of course, although he’s already given us so many classic onscreen roles, we’re happy to hear that there is much more to come. In fact, his declaration that Ryan Coogler is writing a role specifically for him in Black Panther 3 is just more proof that Denzel is still about that action.

One of Marvel’s biggest franchise hits, the original Black Panther film debuted in 2018 to massive financial and critical success, taking home a whopping $1.3 billion in international box office sales.

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