Edgar Wright’s The Running Man Trailer Drops Ahead of 2025 Release

Paramount Pictures released the first trailer for The Running Man (2025) today. The feature is a new adaptation of Stephen King’s dystopian novel of the same name, written by King under his pseudonym Richard Bachman and originally published in 1982. The 2025 film, directed by Edgar Wright, is a much more faithful version of King’s original novel than the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led 1987 action flick of the same name.

Stephen King began publishing work as Richard Bachman in the late 1970s to see how many books he could get out under a pseudonym without being caught. He was exposed as the real Bachman in 1984, at which point King gave him a legitimate backstory: He was his brother’s father (dead ringer right there), born in 1942, grew up in Los Angeles, and served in Vietnam. As King has said, Bachman was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1985. He had six books, the most successful and most enduring being The Running Man, which King wrote in a week.

Like many of King’s Bachman novels, The Running Man is a gritty, dystopian satire. It is set in the United States in 2025—conveniently, the same year the film is now releasing—which has become a totalitarian state. The country is run by a government called The New Founding Fathers of America (NFDA), and the public is kept occupied by a brutal reality game show with a simple premise: a contestant called a Runner must avoid being killed by teams of assassins known as Hunters. Their movements are tracked by TV cameras, and they are broadcast to the nation to the tune of slimeball game-show host Bobby Thompson (Colman Domingo).

Ben Richards does better than you might expect from a film of this ilk. He has made it this far. He has outlived many other contestants who have come before him in this game. It’s a popular show, and Richards quickly makes a name for himself among the public. But anyone who knows a Stephen King book’s ending doesn’t go into this expecting a happy resolution.

In contrast to the book, the 1987 film adaptation leaned into pure action movie territory. King’s grim, violent novel became an over-the-top sci-fi/action flick with a strong dash of cheese that was very much of its era. While it kept much of the original’s premise, it also altered the lead character and placed much less focus on the emotional elements that make The Running Man more than a simple chase film. In the movie, Ben Richards is an elite soldier, while in the book, he is skinny, desperate, and has been laid off from his job at an electronics store. Other changes, such as eliminating Richards’s family members, add to the emotional distance and make the film closer in tone to your usual Arnold Schwarzenegger extravaganza of the time.

Edgar Wright, known for such films as Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver, and Last Night in Soho, has been developing The Running Man since at least 2017. He and co-writer Michael Bacall were officially attached to the film in 2021. Their vision has been to make a truer adaptation of King’s original novel while also bringing Wright’s particular vision and style to the project.

From the trailer released today, it looks like Wright and Bacall have achieved a good balance between the elements. Glen Powell is a compelling choice as the titular Ben Richards, a solid everyman with the requisite muscle but not exactly dripping with it. Josh Brolin is Dan Killian, the host of the game show, who, despite his chipper demeanor, is also a big player in Ben’s decision to enter the show (hint: he’s not there by choice). He is a fan favorite once the show starts, and before he even steps out in public, the studio doesn’t like that.

The rest of the cast features Lee Pace as Evan McCone, the team leader of the Hunters chasing Richards. Jayme Lawson is Richard’s wife Sheila, and Colman Domingo is Bobby Thompson, the host of the game show. Michael Cera has a strange role as Bradley Throckmorton, a leader in the resistance movement. Other cast members include William H. Macy, David Zayas, Emilia Jones, Karl Glusman, Katy O’Brian, and Daniel Ezra.

No Rest for The Bachman

Fans of King’s Bachman novels have a lot to look forward to, beyond The Running Man. The Long Walk, a King/Bachman novel from 1979, is also being adapted as a feature film. It is another dystopian novel about a government-run competition with a simple premise that most of us hope we never have to compete in. The Long Walk will also be released in 2025, on September 12, while The Running Man is slotted for a November 7 release.

The Running Man and The Long Walk share many of the same elements: government oppression, media as the enemy, an out-of-touch elite, and, of course, the hero who does not survive the game. It will be interesting to see how both adaptations play out and how faithful to the source material they will remain. Whatever the case, 2025 promises to be a very big year for Stephen King fans, and perhaps a time of reflection on the insidious connection between entertainment, capitalism, and empathy in America.