Chicago is the setting for the planned robbery in Widows (2018), the crime thriller directed by Steve McQueen.
The story follows four women whose criminal husbands die during a failed robbery. Veronica Rawlings, played by Viola Davis, discovers that her husband left behind plans for another heist. She brings Linda, Alice, and Belle together to carry it out and escape the debts and threats left by their husbands’ criminal associates.
Chicago is not merely a backdrop. The film connects the robbery plot to local politics, ward organization, racial inequality, and conflict between powerful criminal networks. The characters move through neighborhoods and institutions shaped by those pressures, giving the heist a political and social dimension.
Widows is based on the 1983 ITV series of the same name created by Lynda La Plante, but McQueen and co-writer Gillian Flynn relocated and substantially reworked the story. The film’s ensemble includes Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, and Cynthia Erivo alongside Davis.