Heist Thriller Widows Casts Liam Neeson

The cast of Steve McQueen’s next creative venture, a heist thriller by the name of Widows, continues to impress.

So far, the writer-director has tapped Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis (Fences), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 star Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Rodriguez (The Fate of the Furious), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), and Andre Holland. But the casting spree doesn’t end there, as Variety brings word that Liam Neeson, star of Taken and upcoming thriller The Commuter, has entered negotiations to play the part of Davis’ husband.

Marking McQueen’s first foray behind the lens since collecting the Oscar for 12 Years a Slave, Widows heralds a creative collaboration with Gillian Flynn, the author best known for nervy page-turners in the vein of Gone Girl and Dark Places – two novels that went on to receive big-screen adaptations of their own. She’ll work closely with McQueen to adapt Lynda La Plante’s 1983 crime miniseries, which followed a group of women who all lose their criminal husbands when a heist goes awry. Rather than wallowing in self-pity and mourning, La Plante’s leading ladies take it upon themselves to finish the job their husbands started, and make off with the loot in the process. It’s not the only female-fronted heist drama in the works, either, what with Gary Ross plotting a continuation of Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s franchise. Its name? Ocean’s Eight.

Film4 and New Regency have lent financial support to Widows, though there’s currently no mention of when Steve McQueen’s latest will be ushered in front of the cameras. Stay tuned for more on that front, though.

Liam Neeson, meanwhile, has already lined up another collaboration with director Jaume Collet-Serra for The Commuter, which was recently pushed back into 2018, not to mention Watergate drama Felt.