Steve McQueen’s Widows has been set as the opening night gala of the BFI London Film Festival which kicks off October 10 in the British capital. From 20th Century Fox, Regency Enterprises and See-Saw Films, the modern-day thriller is co-written by the Oscar-winning director with Gone Girl‘s Gillian Flynn and unites a group of four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ criminal activities. Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Cynthia Erivo star.

This is billed as the “international premiere” suggesting the movie may debut earlier at one of the fall festivals. The film is based on the eponymous TV series by Lynda La Plante and has McQueen producing together with Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Arnon Milchan.

Crime, passion and corruption frame the story. After their husbands die, Veronica (Davis), Alice (Debicki), Linda (Rodriguez) and Belle (Erivo) are forced to take their fate into their own hands and conspire to forge a future on their own terms. The best thing they have going for themselves, as Davis’ Veronica notes, is “no one thinks we have the balls to pull this off.”

Widows also stars Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Lukas Haas and Brian Tyree Henry.

McQueen says, “I am absolutely delighted that Widows will be opening this year’s BFI London Film Festival. Watching the UK TV version of Lynda La Plante’s original thriller as a teenager in the 80s had a major impact on me and so it feels very special to be sharing this film with a UK audience.”

Widows was made in association with Film4, and will be released in UK theaters on November 9, one week ahead of its domestic date.

The 62nd BFI London Film Festival runs October 10-21 with the full lineup to be revealed on August 30.