Denzel Washington Says He's Not Retiring After All (At Least, Not Yet)

Actor Denzel Washington isn’t exiting stage left just yet.

Just a day after the Gladiator II star dropped the shock news of his upcoming retirement, the 69-year-old Academy Award winner has clarified his stance, indicating his exact plans when it comes to his lauded film career.

As reported here on The Blast, Denzel laid out several upcoming projects over the next few years while speaking to Australia’s Today earlier this week. This includes a role in Black Panther 3, which has yet to be officially announced.

He then hinted that after those projects were done, there wasn’t much more that would inspire him to get back in front of the camera.

“At this point in my career, I’m only interested in working with the best,” the legendary actor stated. “I don’t know how many more films I will make; probably not that many. I want to do things that I haven’t done.”

The website Buzzfeed teased an upcoming interview with Denzel on Wednesday. In it, the actor clears up his retirement comments by stating he only plans to stop “running” with the current, younger pack of Hollywood.

“I didn’t say that I was going to go into retirement,” Denzel noted, as transcribed by HuffPost. “[What] I said [is] 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,” he continued.

Denzel also shared that the Today interview, where he first commented on retiring, was filmed around a month ago. Since that time, he has been on a media blitz to promote the upcoming Gladiator II, which had its premiere in London on Wednesday evening, as reported by People.

“Going on [the promotional] tour with Paul and Fred,” he shared, bringing up his younger Gladiator II co-stars Paul Mescal and Fred Hechinger, “they’re taking over [Hollywood]. I’m not retiring, like ‘that’s it,’ but to think I’m going to run as far as they are or [even] as you are, I’d be a fool. [My] stuntman is doing that now.”

Denzel then joked, “I’m less interested in running and jumping [at my age]. Let [the younger actors] run and jump.”

During another promo stop with Yahoo! UK, Denzel went deeper on his actual future acting plans and calmed his fans by solidifying his stance on not retiring anytime soon.

“It's not over, let them know it's not over,” Denzel said. “I'm not retiring tomorrow. I said I have all these films to do and then I want to get behind the camera, which is going to take a year or two, or three.”

Though his work has been timeless, Denzel understands that age does play a factor with his future in Hollywood.

So, do the math. I think I mentioned five or six films [ahead],” he explained. “[So] even if I did one a year  - which it won't be - but even if I did, that is six years and I'm 70 in a month, [so] that's 76. If I direct the movie after that, that's two to three years, that's 79.”

“You don't want [to see me in] Equalizer 7 at 79-80 years old,” Denzel noted. "You don't want that, I don't want that. So, we'll see. There aren't a lot of great directors, or maybe I don't know them all and maybe I just went fishing."

Nodding toward his experience with Shakespeare plays, Denzel added, “’King Lear's’ available. [I’m] just saying. [If] it's available, I am a director."

If anyone needed further proof of the actor’s commitment to his career, look no further – or not – than a same-sex kiss between Denzel and one of his Gladiator II co-stars that was left on the cutting room floor.

Variety reports that Denzel’s character, the wealthy Macrimus, has an attraction to men that is mentioned in the film. To properly display this, a kiss between The Equalizer star and another male actor was shot and set to be shown in Gladiator II – but for reasons unknown, the kiss didn’t make it into the final cut of the film.

“I actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out, they cut it,” Denzel shares. “I think they got chicken. I kissed a guy full on the lips, [but] I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I kill him about five minutes later. It’s Gladiator. It’s [a] kiss of death.”

Even now, the acclaimed actor has shown no true signs of being ready for his final bow. Also on his very full plate is his goal to continue bringing works by playwright August Wilson to the big screen.

To date, Denzel has produced or appeared in three of Wilson’s pieces for film – Fences (2016), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020), and The Piano Lesson (2024).

“I've got seven more to go so I'm not retiring from that," Denzel assured Yahoo! UK. "If there's a great director or a great role with a great director, I would un-retire. But short of that, my passion is to get these plays done and to get the work that I have in front of me done."