There are dozens and dozens of movies based on Stephen King’s books, and it doesn’t seem like the adaptations will be slowing down anytime soon — and the protagonist of the The Running Man, a new take on one of the great horror author’s earlier works, won’t be slowing down either, since he’s being hunted for sport on a dystopian game show.
The Running Man, directed by Edgar Wright, is set to dash into theaters this November. Starring Glen Powell, it’s the second adaptation of King’s novel, which was originally published in 1981. The first movie version of the story starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and came out in 1987; the 2025 version looks to be fairly different. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming remake of Stephen King’s The Running Man — and then run, don’t walk, to the theater.
When Will it be released?
The Running Man will open in theaters on November 7, 2025. The film was originally scheduled to open a few weeks later on the November 21, but it was moved up in part so that it wouldn’t be competing against Wicked: For Good. According to Deadline, this opens up the possibility that The Running Man will play on IMAX screens that would’ve otherwise been occupied by the Oz-set musical.
Who’s behind the new adaptation?
Edgar Wright, a beloved genre filmmaker known for movies like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, will helm the upcoming movie. Wright has had his eye on remaking The Running Man for a while. Back in 2019, he named the film when a fan on X (formerly Twitter) asked him what movie he’d most like to remake. However, when news broke in 2021 that Paramount was making The Running Man with Wright as director, the story clarified that it wasn’t a remake of the ’80s Schwarzenegger film so much as a new adaptation of the original King novel — and a more faithful one at that.
Wright co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Bacall, with whom he previously collaborated on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Bacall also was a screenwriter for 21 Jump Street and its sequel 22 Jump Street. Simon Kinberg and Nira Park join Wright as producers.
Who’s In It?
Glen Powell, arguably the hottest rising actor coming off of the success of Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You, and Twisters, will star in The Running Man. News of Powell’s casting broke in the spring of last year. He’ll play Ben Richards, the protagonist of King’s novel, a man who signs up for a deadly reality show in what was then a dystopian future.
Powell will be joined by Katy O’Brian, who broke out playing a bodybuilder in Love Lies Bleeding and who co-starred with Powell in last year’s Twisters, too. More recently, O’Brian appeared in Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. In The Running Man, she’ll play another contestant, as will Daniel Ezra, star of The CW sports drama series All American.
As Powell’s character runs for his life, he’ll encounter several notable actors. Thanos himself, Josh Brolin, plays the aptly named Dan Killian, the producer of the deadly game show. Lee Pace, another MCU alum who had a memorable turn in Bodies Bodies Bodies a few years ago, plays one of the hunters tasked with finding and killing Ben. Karl Glusman (Gaspar Noé’s Love) plays another hunter.
CODA star Emilia Jones plays a privileged woman who Richards encounters during his run, while Scott Pilgrim’s Michael Cera plays a rebel working against the dystopian government who helps him. Fargo’s William H. Macy plays another man who helps Richard.
Colman Domingo, in a role that seems tailor-made to showcase the charisma and subtle menace he displayed in Zola, plays Bobby Thompson, the host of the deadly TV show. Jayme Lawson (Sinners), David Zayas (Dexter), and Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) round out the cast.
WHAT IS The Running Man ABOUT?
Originally published in 1982 under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman (Thinner and The Long Walk are a few of the other books King published under this moniker), The Running Man was set in the then-future of 2025. (Wuh oh!) Ben Richards lives in this dystopian world where the economy has collapsed and America is a totalitarian state, and when his gravely sick daughter needs help he can’t provide, he turns to the Games Network, the government TV channel that makes violent reality shows.
He competes on The Running Man, a series with a pretty simple premise: After a 12-hour head-start, contestants must avoid the hired hitmen who are trying to track them down and kill them for as long as they can. The longer Richards survives, the more money his family will get, and if he somehow makes it 30 days, he’ll win $1 billion and the hunters will be called off… or so the Games Network claims.
Eerily prescient, given that it came more than two decades before reality TV really exploded in America (to say nothing of Internet culture and the various ways people will degrade themselves to an audience for money), The Running Man seems like a natural story to return to at this moment in time.
The Arnold Schwarzenegger-led 1987 film was a fairly loose adaptation. Rather than attempt to escape capture out in the world, Schwarzenegger’s character runs for his life in a special game zone and deals with outlandish hitmen, like a killer named Buzzsaw who uses a chainsaw and another who sports an ice hockey theme. It’s more absurd than King’s (relatively) grounded thriller, and it boasts a much happier ending, too. Wright’s movie will be much more in line with the novel, and the director likened it to a “road movie” in an interview with Empire:
“One of the things about the book that I loved was the fact that Ben Richards is out in the world on his own, so it’s like the deadliest game of hide and seek,” Wright said. “Ben is moving through different environments and meeting different people as he tries to survive 30 days out in the wild.”
Are there any trailers?
No trailers for The Running Man have been released yet. The film, which started proudction in the UK in November of last year and wrapped in late March 2025, hasn’t released any promotional material to the public yet. However, at CinemaCon — an annual convention attended by entertainment journalists and theater owners where studios promote their upcoming slate of films — Paramount showcased a first look of some footage.
According to reports from journalists who were present, the trailer shows Brolin’s TV executive talking Powell’s Richards into agreeing to compete on the deadly reality show. Later in the footage, Domingo’s host is seen getting irate that Richards is surviving longer than expected, screaming “This is America, damn it, and we don’t put up with no bulls–t! Hunt. Him. Down!”
The footage also contained a sequence in which Cera’s resistance fighter electrocutes some hunters who are pursuing him with a water gun.
“I have never worked harder on a movie in my life,” Powell said during an on-stage appearance at CinemaCon.
Is The Running Man related to The Long Walk?
An understandable question, but no! Both movies are coming out in 2025, both are based on books King wrote under his Richard Bachman pseudonym, there are some loose similarities in the premises, and both have a mode of bipedal transportation in their names. But, aside from that, they’re unrelated. The Long Walk is a dystopian story about a competition where people need to walk until there’s only one left remaining — those who stop or simply can’t go on are shot. Francis Lawrence is directing Lionsgate’s film adaptation, which is set for a September 12 release. Paramount’s The Running Man opens a little under two months later.
The Running Man takes off in theaters on November 7, 2025.
