The Equalizer movies marked the first franchise for Denzel Washington, but the actor’s underrated 1995 crime movie Devil in a Blue Dress should have gotten a sequel long before that. Washington is an Oscar-winning actor and one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, making it all the more surprising that The Equalizer 2 was his first sequel.

Washington’s movies have ranged from prestige dramas to crowd-pleasing hits, but the actor has largely avoided sequels for the majority of his career. Along with the three Equalizer movies to date, Washington joined the cast of Gladiator II in recent years, showing that his avoidance of franchises has at least loosened over time.

However, one of Washington’s best movies from the 1990s could have launched a terrific franchise for the actor with a character he could have kept playing for years. With Washington being more open to such ideas, it is possible there could be a long-awaited sequel somewhere on the horizon.

Devil In A Blue Dress Should Have Led To More Movies With Denzel Washington’s Easy Rawlins

Easy Rawlins Was The Star Of Several Hard-Boiled Novels

Devil in a Blue Dress is an excellent noir mystery from 1995, and remains one of Denzel Washington’s most underrated movies. Washington stars as Easy Rawlins, a World War II veteran living in 1948 Los Angeles, whose desperation leads him to take a job as a private investigator, helping some shady characters find a missing woman.

This is also a hugely underrated noir movie, capturing the tension, intrigue, and complex characters of the genre. Rawlins makes for a terrifically grounded hero, a man who finds himself getting mixed up in a deeper conspiracy than he was prepared for and needing to fight his way out of it.

The movie is also a stellar adaptation of the novel by Walter Mosley. Mosley wrote over a dozen hard-boiled novels with Easy Rawlins as the protagonist, leaving a lot of material to explore in additional movies, and it would have been a thrill to see Washington carry on as this character.

The sequels would have also provided the opportunity for Don Cheadle to return as Easy’s loyal but unpredictable war buddy. Cheadle steals the show in Devil in a Blue Dress in his supporting role, and it would have been great to see him explore the character more.

Unfortunately, the initial movie failed to find an audience at the box office and has been criminally overlooked since then. Despite the franchise potential, there were never any widely known plans for more movies with Washington as Easy.

It Is Time For Easy Rawlins To Return To The Screen

Washington Could Still Play The Character, Or A Younger Actor Could Take Over The Role

Despite it being 30 years since Devil in a Blue Dress was released, there is no reason Easy Rawlins could not return for more cinematic adventures. The novels span several decades of Easy’s cases, meaning Washington could still return as an older Easy, with the story taking place in the 1960s or 1970s.

Washington’s greater enthusiasm for sequels makes his return at least a possibility. It is even rumored that he will be returning to another 1995 role with a proposed sequel to Crimson Tide. Getting Don Cheadle back as Mouse would make the project ever more exciting, allowing us to see where these two ended up all these years later.

However, producers could also start fresh with the Easy Rawlins stories, bringing in a new actor to potentially kickstart a franchise. Several talented actors could fit the role of Easy, including Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, and Aaron Pierre.

While it wouldn’t be the same as seeing Denzel Washington back in his Devil in a Blue Dress role, Easy is too good a character to leave off movie screens for so long.