The Running Man 2025 Trailer Channels King’s Original Novel

Paramount Pictures has released a new trailer for The Running Man (2025), directed by Edgar Wright, and has already announced a new film in the works based on another King novel.

The Running Man is the second Stephen King novel published under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. The book was released in 1982, with an early ‘80s setting, and also tells the story of a reality game show on television. However, this new movie is intended to be a closer adaptation than the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle, which departed significantly from the book and is now more of a cult hit.

Stephen King published four novels between 1978 and 1983 as Richard Bachman before the ruse was discovered in 1984. Several were later reissued and remain in print, including The Running Man. This slim thriller, written in seven days and published in August 1982, imagines the same year as its release to give a vivid feeling of its contemporary present. Set in the dystopian United States in 2025, the book describes a total breakdown of society and the free press in the face of an authoritarian regime. Entertainment has never been so popular on television.

Ben Richards is a factory worker who, along with his wife and daughter, lives in a Co-Op City apartment. He is blacklisted and so unable to find work. Seeing no hope for the future and to provide for his family, he places a $1 bet on himself on The Running Man, the country’s highest-rated game show. Called the Runners, contestants have to outrun the Hunters, a cadre of professional killers, while being chased and filmed by helicopter drones. The whole thing is streamed to the public. Ben, in a moment of fury, has proclaimed himself the enemy of the state, and so is given a 12-hour head start on the game.

The Running Man has a simple premise: stay free for 30 days and win $1 billion. The longest survival time of any Runner was 197 hours. But the longer contestants last, the more cash they win, and Hunters downed on live television fetch a cash prize for the Runner. These incentives create a hook for the generally poor and desperate people drawn into the game. Despite the simplicity of the contest, there is something of a dark glory to outlasting the odds. Ben Richards does surprisingly well, as a happy ending is seldom the outcome for King’s main characters.

The 1987 film was, not to put too fine a point on it, all over the place compared to the book. The general concept of a deadly game show was used, but the whole thing was refashioned as sci-fi action with much in the way of late ‘80s blockbuster sensibilities. In the novel, Ben Richards is scrawny and pre-tubercular, but Schwarzenegger’s beefcake couldn’t be further from the book’s protagonist. It is big and loud and, in many ways, much more fun. The show’s mechanizations, traps, and holograms were fairly removed from the original’s satirical vision, while it stripped out a good deal of the character and social commentary, with a focus on action set pieces and chase sequences.

Edgar Wright has been circling The Running Man since he first expressed interest in 2017. In 2021, he and co-writer Michael Bacall were hired to develop the project for Paramount Pictures. Wright was an active and interested fan of the original movie, but has spoken openly about wanting to make a more faithful adaptation of King’s book.

The 2025 movie now has a trailer and seems to signal a mix of action and the original novel’s concept and themes. Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, a castaway from romantic comedies and action hits in exchange for dead-eyed street scum. Josh Brolin is Dan Killian, the show’s host and producer, who convinces Ben to play for his reasons. As Ben progresses in the competition and is seen to have a fighting chance, the show and its Hunters are quickly remade into state enemies. Ben also becomes a clear folk hero for the audience.

Lee Pace is Evan McCone, a Hunter tasked with hunting Ben. Jayme Lawson is Ben’s wife, Sheila, while Colman Domingo plays game show host Bobby Thompson. Michael Cera also has a substantial role as rebel Bradley Throckmorton. The rest of the cast includes William H. Macy, David Zayas, Emilia Jones, Karl Glusman, Katy O’Brian, and Daniel Ezra.

The fate of King’s famous nihilistic ending is still an open question as production is ongoing, but the trailer and details do not suggest the film will hold back from the themes of desperation, media, and television exploitation, and the deadening culture that the televised violence represents.

More Bachman Soon

King fans who are so inclined have another dystopian competition book from King’s Bachman era on the way. The Long Walk, also a 1979 novel, has a film version in the works. That movie is set to release on September 12 in 2025, with The Running Man coming in the fall of that year on November 7.

Both films focus on government oppression, media spectacles, and the costs of survival. It seems like 2025 will be a significant year for Stephen King fans, as well as a potentially sobering one for the nation as a whole.