Glen Powell and Josh Brolin Shine in The Running Man Trailer

Paramount Pictures released the official trailer for Edgar Wright’s The Running Man (2025), an upcoming film based on a novel of the same name by Stephen King, published in 1982 under his pseudonym Richard Bachman.

The Running Man will be a very different animal from the 1987 action film of the same name, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a nutshell, the original film is an exercise in ‘80s action genre clichés that discards most of the original novel’s social satire, satirical premise, and depth.

The Running Man was one of several novels King (writing as Bachman) published in the late 1970s and early 1980s before Bachman’s identity was revealed in 1984. The Running Man was a satirical look at a country on the verge of a totalitarian dystopia. The book, set in 2025 (coincidentally, the year the movie is set to be released), follows the titular murderous game show, in which contestants, known as Runners, are forced to become the targets of well-armed and trained hit men known as Hunters, all for the entertainment of a bloodthirsty public. King claimed to have written the novel in only one week.

The story follows Ben Richards, a man living in “Co-Op City” with his wife and ailing young daughter. Blacklisted and unable to find work, Ben signs up for the nation’s most popular television show, hoping to win the billion-dollar prize. Ben is hunted across the country by a team of professional killers called Hunters, but he’s given a 12-hour head start and incredible capture. A hero of the people, Ben is soon a hunted man himself, not only by the Hunters, but also by the government, as he is considered an enemy of the state. To win, he must survive for 30 days.

The concept is simple: a Runner can stay in the game for as long as they live. If they manage to survive for 30 days, they win $1 billion. No one has ever lasted more than 197 hours on the show, but they do earn $50,000 for every day they live and $10,000 for every Hunter they dispatch.

The desperation of the contestants in the original novel comes from King’s bleak humor, but it is also a pointed criticism of what can drive people to do unthinkable things in the worst situations. Ben Richards does extremely well on the show, far better than any Runner before him. In keeping with most of King’s novels, it is not a story that has a happy ending.

Paramount’s 1987 The Running Man adaptation, in contrast to the novel, was an over-the-top, action-packed sci-fi that, while maintaining the premise of the deadly game show, used the conceit more as a backdrop for a Schwarzenegger action film than a King social commentary.

As for Ben Richards, Schwarzenegger’s protagonist is a pure action star. There’s little of the desperation and humanity that King’s “scrawny” (King’s own words) and “pre-tubercular” hero was meant to have. The movie is all explosions, fun, and gadgets with a lot of humor and heart, but the emotional stakes and darkness of King’s story are nowhere to be found.

Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver, Last Night in Soho) had expressed interest in making a The Running Man film back in 2017. In 2021, Paramount Pictures picked up the project, and Wright co-wrote the film with Michael Bacall.

In Wright’s trailer, the balance struck is more in line with the expectations of King fans. While still featuring action, humor, and (likely) gadgets, the tone is grittier. The heart is there, but the emotional stakes are much higher. Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, with Josh Brolin as Dan Killian, the game show’s host and producer who first offers the desperate Ben the chance to sign up and then pits him against the government when he becomes too popular with the viewing public.

Lee Pace stars as Evan McCone, the leader of the team of Hunters set to track Ben down, while Jayme Lawson stars as Ben’s wife, Sheila. Colman Domingo plays Bobby Thompson, the game show host, and Michael Cera plays a mysterious rebel character named Bradley Throckmorton. Supporting players include William H. Macy, David Zayas, Emilia Jones, Karl Glusman, Katy O’Brian, and Daniel Ezra.

The question of whether Wright and Bacall will honor the original novel’s famously downbeat conclusion has yet to be answered. But what we do know is that The Running Man will not shy away from King’s pointed social commentary on media violence, capitalism, or desperation.

Fans of the Bachman books will not be done with King’s killer game shows in 2025. The Long Walk, another King novel following a deadly competition, is also slated for a film adaptation in 2025. The Long Walk movie is scheduled to open on September 12. Two months later, on November 7, comes The Running Man.

The two Bachman films both focus on government cruelty, media manipulation, and the high cost of survival, and 2025 promises to be a big year for fans of King and any of us concerned about the intersection of entertainment, capitalism, and humanity.