• Denzel Washington said he plans to retire after “working with the best” on a few more films.
• “I want to do things I haven’t done yet,” he said, mentioning Hannibal and King Lear as future roles.
• He also said director Ryan Coogler is writing a role for him in “Black Panther 3.”

From the outside, Denzel Washington doesn’t seem to be slowing down. But the 69-year-old actor said he is actively planning for retirement.

Washington, who will next star opposite Paul Mescal in “Gladiator II,” has a busy few years ahead of him: He’s already booked to play longtime military general Hannibal in a Netflix film directed by Antoine Fuqua and to star in the to reprise the role of Othello in a Broadway revival of Shakespeare’s play.

In a recent interview with The Today Show AustraliaWashington revealed that he is also in talks with directors Steve McQueen and Ryan Coogler for future projects, but fans shouldn’t expect many more films from him after that.

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

“I played Othello at 22, I’m now going to play it at 70,” he continued. “After that I’ll do Hannibal. Then I talked to Steve McQueen about a movie. Then Ryan Coogler will write a role for me in the next ‘Black Panther.’ Then I’ll do the movie ‘Othello.’ Then I’ll do ‘King Lear.’ Then I’ll retire.”

Marvel fans were quick to respond to Washington’s comment about “Black Panther 3,” which the studio has yet to announce.

Coogler wrote and directed the 2018 Oscar-winning Black Panther and its 2022 sequel, Wakanda Forever. During the end credits of “Wakanda Forever,” the on-screen text explicitly promises that “Black Panther will return.” However, that may have been a teaser for the spin-off series in the works for Disney Plus, ‘Eyes of Wakanda’ and ‘Ironheart’. BI’s requests for comment to Coogler and Disney were not immediately responded to.

No official news has been shared about a third ‘Black Panther’ film, but Marvel does have several other sequels in the pipeline, including ‘Captain America: Brave New World’, ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and a fourth installment of ‘ Spider-Man” starring Tom Holland.