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Denzel Washington has 5 projects on his acting bucket list before he retires - including Shakespeare, Netflix, and Marvel Studios

Denzel Washington is ending his acting career as he started it - on stage.

Equalizer 3 — Image credit: Sony Pictures

News by Chris Arrant, Editor-in-Chief

Published on Tue Nov 12 2024

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Denzel Washington is a titan in the world of movies, being arguably one of the world's top actors for the past 30 years. In that he's been not just an actor, but a producer, a director, and even a supporter of the arts (such as for a scholarship for Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman). But here now in 2024, as he nears his 70th birthday, Washington sees the end of the road - at least for him working for a living.

“I played Othello at 22. I am about to play Othello at 70,” Washington said in an in interview with The Today Show., referring to the Shakespeare production coming to Broadway in 2025. “After that, I am playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking to Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next ‘Black Panther.’ After that, I’m going to do the film ‘Othello,’ After that, I’m going to do King Lear. After that, I’m going to retire.”

Here's a list of those projects:

Othello (Debuting on Broadway in February 2025)
Untitled Hannibal movie with director Antone Fuqua for Netflix
Unannounced film with writer/director Steve McQueen
Black Panther 3
Othello (live-action movie version of play)
King Lear (discussed as both a play and a movie rendition)

Yes, that's a lot of Shakespeare - Washington is a trained Shakespearian actor, and has appeared in versions of Othello, Julius Caesar, Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Coriolanus, and others. It's somehow fitting he plans to end it all with not just reprising his role as Othello one last time, but then ending it all with King Lear.

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Chris Arrant: Chris Arrant is the Popverse's Editor-in-Chief. He has written about pop culture for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel, Newsarama, CBR, and more. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. (He/him)