Widows Trailer #2: Viola Davis Takes Control of Her Fate

Fox has released a new trailer for 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen's upcoming dramatic crime thriller, Widows. The movie will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, as part of the studio's efforts to stir up awards season buzz ahead of the film's domestic theatrical release in November.


Widows is an Americanized film adaptation of the 1983 UK TV miniseries (created by Lynda La Plante) that swaps in modern-day Chicago for the setting, but carries over the broader strokes of the original program's narrative. It's also the first movie that McQueen has directed since 12 Years a Slave took home 2014's Best Picture Oscar, as well as the second film co-written by Sharp Objects author Gillian Flynn, after she adapted her own novel for David Fincher's acclaimed Gone Girl movie. Between the first Widows trailer and this new theatrical preview, the film continues to look as intense as one might've expected, based on its creatives' previous work.On the acting side of things, Oscar-winner Viola Davis leads the charge in Widows as Veronica, a woman whose husband (Liam Neeson) makes his living in Chicago's criminal underbelly. However, when a job goes wrong, the latter is killed with his men and Veronica is left with a heavy debt to pay to his employers.


Surprising even herself, Veronica decides to take control of her own fate by joining forces with the three women (Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo, Elizabeth Debicki) who were married to the other men in her late husband's crew, and finishing the job herself. For more on that, watch the new trailer in the space above.With the first Widows trailer having already introduced the film's different players and basic premise, this new preview dives a little deeper into the characters themselves and the nitty-gritty details of their criminal operation. The preview further highlights the all-star ensemble cast that McQueen has assembled around Widows' dramatic powerhouse leads (including, rising talent Erivo, who also costars in this fall's Bad Times at the El Royale). In addition to Neeson, that roster includes Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, and Jon Bernthal, as well as Atlanta's Brian Tyree Henry, The Leftovers' Carrie Coon and Daniel Kaluuya of Get Out and Black Panther fame.Judging by its trailer footage, Widows should have little trouble going toe to toe with its competitors this awards season.


It's one of several Oscar hopefuls that will have its world premiere at this year's TIFF, alongside more purely dramatic titles like Bradley Cooper's A Star is Born remake, as well as Felix Van Groeningen's Beautiful Boy, and Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk adaptations. However things shake out on that end, Widows is one of this fall's most exciting releases and may yet prove to be one of 2018's best genre films, the way things are going.