"The Running Man" New Trailer: Glen Powell Fights for His Life in Edgar Wright’s Action-Packed Reimagining of Stephen King’s Dystopian Thriller
🎥 Director Edgar Wright and star Glen Powell bring new energy to Stephen King’s bleak vision of a media-obsessed future, where the only way out of a corrupt system is to keep running.
Stephen King is having yet another banner year, as The Running Man marks the fourth film based on his books—following The Long Walk, The Monkey, and The Life of Chuck. Add to that the new series The Institute and this month’s It: Welcome to Derry, both inspired by his writings. And believe it or not, there’s still more to come, cementing his status as one of the most prolific and popular authors with the greatest number of screen adaptations in recent history.
But what makes The Running Man different from King’s other works—aside from being published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman—is that it’s less a tale of horror and more a glimpse into his vision as a futurist. When the book was published in 1982, King envisioned a not-too-distant dystopian future driven by media manipulation, economic disparity, and a society obsessed with violent reality competition shows—serving as a distraction from widespread corruption and political decay.
The novel was also set in the year 2025, in a bleak vision of America. Now, we’re not saying King predicted our present, as there are certainly clear differences. But he came pretty damn close to capturing what the world would eventually look like: an America defined by widening economic disparity, a restless population desperate for distraction, and a culture built on media exploitation taken to the nth degree. Sure, King might not be Nostradamus, but that’s pretty near-close-damus.
One of the book’s original taglines read: “Welcome to America in 2025, when the best men don’t run for president. They run for their lives.” The novel was released at the start of the Reagan presidency—a time when the nation was dazzled by optimism, consumerism, hyper-individualism, and a shiny new brand of American exceptionalism. Yet not enough has been said about how the criticisms of Reagan-era America that emerged in that period have proven remarkably prescient. Think John Carpenter’s They Live, a clear cinematic rebuke of Reaganomics. That film, a sci-fi satire about hidden aliens, envisioned a world where greed, propaganda, and media control masked a much darker truth. Surprisingly, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s version of The Running Man, which hit theaters a year before They Live, also didn’t shy away from its social commentary—despite its over-the-top action veneer.
So, one could say today’s audiences are not only more primed than ever for this type of dystopian entertainment but also far more aware of how close these things hit home. Squid Game, the global Korean phenomenon from Netflix, is a great example of how King’s imagination of a dark future has evolved into the mainstream—and how audiences themselves are becoming more attuned to these stories of moral and economic struggle, wrapped up in tyrannical systems.
Well, it seems director Edgar Wright and star Glen Powell are about to take their own crack at that legacy, bringing King’s The Running Man back to life for a new generation. How much it will tackle the story’s deeper political and social undertones remains to be seen. One thing’s for sure, however, it’s not going to skimp on the action. That is, if this new trailer is any indication. With Wright being such a self-proclaimed fanatic of ‘80s and ‘90s action romps, it seems he sees this as an opportunity to honor that era’s over-the-top energy—something the trailer captures with its nonstop propulsion.
At one point in the preview, we see Glen Powell soar off the edge of a bridge, suspended in midair as his vehicle erupts into a blaze of fiery wreckage. In another, Powell shouts, “I got a grenade!” before hurling it at his masked pursuer—only for it to be kicked right back at him, landing inside an enclosed elevator where Powell has just seconds to react. There’s another scene where Powell takes a woman (played by Task and CODA actress Emilia Jones) hostage in a car, both of them visibly shaken as she realizes her life is suddenly in danger. To which Powell coolly remarks, “Welcome to The Running Man.”
Said to be a more faithful adaptation of King’s classic novel, Wright’s version moves away from Schwarzenegger’s take, which reimagined the story about a wrongly convicted military cop framed for a civilian massacre and dubbed “The Butcher of Bakersfield.”
Here, Powell plays Ben Richards, who, as in the book, is an ordinary Joe struggling to find work to support his wife (played by Sinners’ Jayme Lawson) and sick child. Desperate, he’s lured into “The Running Man,” a brutal reality competition where contestants, or “runners,” must survive 30 days to win a massive cash prize—all while professional hunters pursue them across the city, killing them on live television. Every moment is captured through drones and hidden cameras, but don’t let that fool you: the game is rigged. Think The Amazing Race meets Battle Royale—and far less of the glitzy, pro-wrestling theatrics that defined Schwarzenegger’s version.
Another difference: Josh Brolin steps into the role of Dan Killian, the show’s devilishly manipulative producer, while Colman Domingo plays Bobby Thompson, the wildly charismatic host of The Running Man game show. In Schwarzenegger’s film, these two roles were merged into a single character, the despicable Damon Killian, memorably portrayed by Family Feud host Richard Dawson.
Among those playing hunters are Lee Pace and Karl Glusman, while Katy O’Brian and SNL’s Martin Herlihy play fellow runners. William H. Macy, David Zayas, Daniel Ezra, and Michael Cera appear as rebels and outsiders who find themselves helping Powell’s Ben during his epic run to beat the game.
It’s also been mentioned that Schwarzenegger will make a brief cameo... Well, sort of. It seems his Schwarzenegger’s face will appear on the $100 bill in the film, a cheeky nod to the 1987 classic.
So, you can expect to start running when this new version of The Running Man dashes into theaters November 14th. Now the question is: will audiences be excited to chase it, or will they see it as just another old IP that’s finally run its course?
Official Synopsis:
Play the game or the game plays you.
In a near-future society, The Running Man is the top-rated show on television—a deadly competition where contestants, known as Runners, must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins, with every move broadcast to a bloodthirsty public and each day bringing a greater cash reward. Desperate to save his sick daughter, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by the show’s charming but ruthless producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to enter the game as a last resort. But Ben’s defiance, instincts, and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favorite—and a threat to the entire system. As ratings skyrocket, so does the danger, and Ben must outwit not just the Hunters, but a nation addicted to watching him fall.
In theatres November 14th.
It will be interesting to see if the ending to the movie matches the book, not to mention the fate of his loved ones.