The Running Man (2025) Cast Revealed Alongside Trailer Drop

Paramount Pictures has released the first official trailer for Edgar Wright’s upcoming The Running Man, a new adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name. King’s story first appeared in 1982 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman and became his longest-running cult novel among fans of his earlier works. A loose, action-packed adaptation by director Paul Michael Anderson appeared in 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role, but the new film is likely to be more of a faithful reflection of the source material, based on the first look from Wright.

King’s novel of the same name was written in 1982, following a run of five others in the late 1970s and early 80s that he published as his Bachman pseudonym. King’s use of the alternate pen name was eventually revealed in 1984. His longest-running work under the pen name, The Running Man, was reportedly written in a week, based on a “What If?” idea about a national election in America between a reformer and a fascist incumbent. The novel itself is a gruesome satire and exploration of network television’s power over viewers, set in a year where, just like the film’s release year, America’s democratic institutions have crumbled into a corporatized, totalitarian dictatorship.

A weathered industrial wasteland is our landscape for King’s near-future vision of 2025. Here, the nation is gripped by a deadly television game show called The Running Man, in which contestants called Runners are hunted by assassins known as Hunters, and their every move is broadcast to a national audience that enjoys both voyeuristic thrills and the vicarious experience of violence without consequences.

Ben Richards is a working-class father from “Co-Op City” who struggles to feed his wife and ailing daughter on what meager work he can find. Jobless, blacklisted, and in desperate straits, he is arrested and nearly executed after getting a single bullet away from a police officer. His wife and daughter are allowed to flee, on condition they never return or mention his name, when he is given one last chance: if he plays and wins the Running Man, the country’s most popular television show, all will be forgiven.

The rules of the game are simple: stay alive for 30 days and the contestant wins $1 billion; otherwise, they’re dead by the end of the month. The Running Man’s previous record is 197 hours, and no one is expected to last longer. Players have to stay out of the hands of the Hunters for a full calendar month, or however long it takes for one to finally get them. In addition to the cash prize, runners also win $1 million for each day they survive, and cash bounties are paid for each Hunter they eliminate. These incentives are the only reason most players sign up at all, other than the few who are backed by underground groups or have personal scores to settle.

The novel of the same name is a rousing but bleaker picture of King’s early ‘80s future. His American society has collapsed into a corporate-state cult of personality that elects fascist successors who favor big business. With wealth and jobs limited and an all-powerful network, a media conglomerate able to turn even the slightest sign of disloyalty into televised executions, most citizens settle for whatever they can scrape together.

Wright and Bacall’s script seems to be closely based on the book, with Glen Powell taking on the role of the “scrawny” Richards. Josh Brolin plays the lead Hunter, Evan McCone, and the wily, genial Dan Killian, the show’s host and mastermind behind the killing game. Brolin’s character—played by the younger Schwarzenegger in the 1987 film—has the dubious pleasure of both setting Ben up for the game as well as hyping him as a contender.

Richards has a nice run at the top of the ratings, using the episode’s remaining time to win over the country’s public opinion before they have the chance to hunt him down. He has slowly built up as a competitor who catches the Hunters by surprise and, most importantly, puts in a good performance in front of the camera at all times. Once he’s top of the leaderboards, Ben becomes both a fan favorite and a threat to the national regime in a surprisingly short amount of time.

It remains to be seen whether Wright and Bacall will stick to the conclusion of King’s famously downbeat book. The new trailer, however, is a promising first look at the full, original scope of the Bachman novel, with the more extreme violence, danger, desperation, exploitation, and dumbing down by the American people of televised murder and mayhem.

What’s Elsewhere on the Bachman Dystopian Running Movie Front?

The Running Man is not the only King adaptation from his Bachman-era hitting theaters in 2025. The Long Walk, another of his books about a deadly national competition written in 1979, also has a film adaptation due out the same year, though on an earlier release date. The Long Walk will be released on September 12, just two months before The Running Man is due in theaters on November 7.

If the titles were not enough, both feature elements of government violence, media exploitation, personal desperation, and the very real costs of playing for the highest stakes. The Long Walk has gotten significantly less buzz than The Running Man, but is worth checking out and is also likely to be more in the vein of the Bachman style that The Running Man is working from this year. As a bonus, fans of Stephen King have a third Bachman-era novel, Roadwork, that is also being adapted for the screen. A film and television production is currently underway, though there is currently no scheduled release date.