2010–2019: Return to theater and The Equalizer trilogy
Washington returned to Broadway playing Troy Maxson, opposite Viola Davis, in the revival of August Wilson's Fences. Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, Washington plays a former Negro league baseball player working as a garbage collector who struggles to provide for his family and come to terms with the events of his life. Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Washington has the fluid naturalness we associate with good screen actors... face and stance alone provide fascinating (and damning) glimpses into Troy’s attitudes toward his son from an earlier relationships". Washington won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance. That same year, Washington starred in The Book of Eli (2010), a post-apocalyptic action-drama set in the near future. Also in 2010, he starred as a veteran railroad engineer in the action film Unstoppable, about an unmanned, half-mile-long runaway freight train carrying dangerous cargo. The film was his fifth and final collaboration with director Tony Scott, following Crimson Tide (1995), Man on Fire (2004), Déjà Vu (2006) and The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009).
In 2012, Washington starred in Flight, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as an alcoholic airline pilot facing investigation for his part in a plane crash. He co-starred with Ryan Reynolds in Safe House, where he prepared for his role by subjecting himself to a torture session that included waterboarding. In 2013, Washington starred in 2 Guns, alongside Mark Wahlberg. From April to June 2014, Washington played the leading role in the Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry's classic drama A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Kenny Leon. The show received positive reviews and won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. That same year he starred in The Equalizer (2014), an action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Richard Wenk, based on the television series of same name starring Edward Woodward. He reprised his role in his first sequel, The Equalizer 2 (2018) and the third and final sequel, The Equalizer 3 (2023).
In 2016, Washington starred in The Magnificent Seven, a remake of the 1960 western film of the same name, alongside Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, and Peter Sarsgaard. Principal photography began on May 18, 2015, in north Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The film premiered on September 8 at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released in the United States in conventional and IMAX theaters on September 23, 2016. In The Magnificent Seven, Washington plays Sam Chisolm ("the Bounty Hunter"), a duly sworn warrant officer from Wichita, Kansas. His character was renamed from Chris Adams (played by Yul Brynner in the original film) to Sam Chisolm. It was Washington's first Western film. He did not watch Westerns growing up, as it was the end of the Western era in the movies. Moreover, he and his siblings were barred from going to the cinema by his father, a minister in a church. They grew up watching Biblical films instead, like King of Kings and The Ten Commandments, although he has said that he watched portions of the shows Rawhide and Bonanza. He did not view the original film in preparation, but has watched Seven Samurai. Fuqua flew to New York City to negotiate with Washington, who accepted the offer.
In 2016, Washington directed the film Fences, co-starring Viola Davis and Stephen McKinley Henderson and based on August Wilson's play of the same name, with a script by Wilson. He reprised the role of Troy Maxson. The film was released on December 16, 2016, by Paramount Pictures. Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote, "Washington, as both actor and director, gets the conversation humming with a speed and alacrity that keeps the audience jazzed...Washington tears through it with a joyful ferocity, like a man possessed." For his performance, Washington was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, an Actor Award, and an Academy Award. The film was nominated for three other Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and won Davis her first Academy Award.
The following year, Washington starred in the legal drama film Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017). Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote, "[He]'s a star player, styling out his character’s complicated and tricky mix of attributes...However contrived, this character is always fully and comfortably inhabited, and Washington brings off the funny moments". While the film received mixed reviews, his performance was praised by critics and led to nominations for a Golden Globe Award, an Actor Award and an Academy Award (Washington's ninth Oscar nomination overall and his sixth for Best Actor).
Beginning March 22, 2018, Washington starred as Theodore "Hickey" Hickman in a Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. The production, directed by George C. Wolfe, began regular performances April 26 and ran for 14 weeks. Washington received positive reviews with Alexis Soloski of The Guardian writing, "For most of it, Washington is playing Washington, letting his good looks and irrepressible charm do most of the character work, though the play’s most exciting moments are when he lets that charm falter (something he’s also been exploring in his recent film work, too) showing something uglier and more ravaged underneath." He received his second Tony Award nomination.
