EXCLUSIVE: Emma Roberts, Justin Hartley, and Glenn Howerton and have signed on for the Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse-penned politically charged action thriller The Hunt from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions. Z for Zachariah helmer Craig Zobel, who previously collaborated with Lindelof and Cuse on HBO’s The Leftovers, is set to direct the film, which is being produced Jason Blum and Lindelof, under his White Rabbit banner. Cuse and Zobel will serve as executive producers.

The Hunt is slated hit theaters October 18 via Universal. No word on the film’s plot but we hear it explores escalating aggressiveness between the political right and left in America.

Universal execs Erik Baiers, Jay Polidoro, and Mika Pryce will oversee the project on behalf of the studio.

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Roberts is reprising her role as Madison Montgomery in the eighth season of FX’s American Horror Story: Apocalypse. On the film side, She most recently starred in Billionaire Boys Club, Little Italy, and Paradise Hills, which had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. She can be heard in STX’s upcoming family animation film, UglyDolls. Roberts is repped by CAA and Sweeney Entertainment.

Hartley currently stars on NBC’s #1 award-winning drama, This Is Us, and can next be seen on the big screen in the Universal/Will Packer-produced comedy, Little, out April 12. Repped by CAA and Jackoway, Austen, Tyerman, Wertheimer, he was also recently cast in CBS Films’ comedy, Lexi, opposite Rose Byrne, Adam Devine, and Wanda Sykes.

Howerton toplines NBC’s comedy A.P. Bio, which is in its second season, and stars in the long-running FX sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which he developed with series creator Rob McElhenney. Other credits include The Mindy Project, Fargo, and Showtime’s House of Lies. He’s repped by WME, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern.