Edgar Wright’s The Running Man Stars Glen Powell, Josh Brolin

Paramount Pictures has just released the official trailer for The Running Man (2025), directed by Edgar Wright. This is the latest iteration of a Stephen King story, originally published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1982. Previous film adaptations include a 1987 action thriller with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role. Wright’s film, in contrast, seems poised to stick closer to the story, themes, and dystopian world-building of King’s darker original novel.

The late 1970s and early ‘80s saw Stephen King quietly publish several novels under the Bachman pseudonym, before being publicly outed as their author in 1984. The Running Man was one of the most enduring of the Bachman books, written in just one week according to King. A brutally satirical work of dystopian fiction, it’s set in a totalitarian United States in the year 2025—coincidentally the same year that The Running Man will be released in theaters.

The Bachman universe depicted by King is similar in many ways to the world of The Stand, published just a year later, but the former is a much bleaker take. It’s also less supernatural and more overtly political in its leanings. In The Running Man, the United States has fallen into an economic recession so dire that the government has cracked down on workers’ rights and begun broadcasting executions.

The rules of the show are simple. Survive for 30 days, and you win $1 billion. Nobody’s ever made it more than 197 hours. Contestants make cash prizes for each full day that they stay alive, and there’s a cash bounty for each Hunter that’s dispatched. This provides an incentive for players to play at all, although desperation, addiction, or personal enmity can also be driving factors. Contestants must travel as they see fit and hide from the Hunters. When a Hunter is reported, usually by a viewer or automated surveillance camera, the Runner is said to be “missing,” and viewers are alerted to the new target on their phone screens, television sets, and computers.

Ben Richards, however improbably, does relatively well on the show. But as long-time fans of Stephen King are well aware, nothing in King’s books is ever as it seems, and this story is no exception.

The Running Man Was Adapted for Film Once Before, With Big Changes

The most notable earlier film version of The Running Man was released in 1987, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards. This film made some significant changes from the source material. Most notably, while the book was written as social commentary within the dystopian thriller genre, the movie was very much a sci-fi action picture of the kind that Schwarzenegger was known for at the time.

The 1987 film drew on elements from various different King works to build out its cast and world, filling in a police state with military drones and flashy, in-your-face special effects. It also played up the later era in which it was set. In the film, the star of the show is a thick-skinned muscled action hero named Daniel Craig (presumably no relation). Richards’ motivation and background are also more in line with an action hero than a desperate, unemployed worker. The movie was loud, colorful, and fun, but not nearly as bleak and satirical as the book.

According to the new trailer, Wright and Bacall have clearly done their homework. Their film will take place in the same world that King imagined, and Wright appears to be delivering a closer adaptation of the book than the 1987 feature. The tone is muted, and the world looks lived-in and genuine, rather than action movie–filmy. There are some callbacks to the old film, but the set design, casting, and script don’t appear to be campy or tongue-in-cheek.

As the show progresses and Ben Richards gains popularity, he quickly becomes a symbol of hope to viewers while simultaneously being a vocal threat to the power structure. It’s only a matter of time before he becomes a target to people higher up the ladder than Dan Killian.

In the role of Evan McCone, the Hunters’ lead, is Lee Pace. Jayme Lawson plays Ben’s wife, Sheila, and Colman Domingo plays Bobby Thompson, the actual game show host. Michael Cera has also joined the cast in an unknown role, as the enigmatic Bradley Throckmorton, one of the rebels that Richards seeks out in the film.

William H. Macy and David Zayas are also attached, with Emilia Jones, Karl Glusman, Katy O’Brian, and Daniel Ezra filling out the supporting cast.

A Few Minor Questions About How This Film Will End

The trailer for Wright and Bacall’s adaptation of The Running Man has given us plenty to look forward to, but there’s one key element from the book that’s still in question. As he so often did in his stories, Stephen King went in a different direction with the conclusion to The Running Man than audiences were expecting. King’s conclusion is famously bleak, but whether Wright and Bacall will follow suit remains to be seen. The early signs are good, however, and this trailer is looking strong, both in terms of its adherence to the source material and its own merits.

With both films dealing with similar ideas of cruelty and media exploitation, 2025 is likely to be both a big and potentially sobering year for Stephen King fans, and many other people.