The Running Man Returns: Paramount Unveils 2025 Trailer

Paramount Pictures today released the official trailer for The Running Man (2025), Edgar Wright’s upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s dystopian novel of the same name. First published as a novel under the King pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1982, the story follows a down-on-his-luck protagonist in a violent and classist televised game of cat and mouse. The original film of the same name starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was a high-octane action picture released in 1987, but Wright’s adaptation looks to be a gritty, true-to-source version of King’s classic story.

Stephen King began publishing novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in the late 1970s, a name that was “discovered” to be King’s in 1984. One of the most well-known of those books is 1982’s The Running Man. Set in the United States in 2025, the same year as the film’s release, the novel is a dark satire on television violence, rising totalitarianism, and corporate media.

The story follows Ben Richards, a husband and father who works in an automated mailroom in “Co-Op City,” a tenement block for lower-class citizens. His wife Sheila and their daughter live with him, but Ben’s daughter is sick with a terminal disease, and the family is desperately poor. Blacklisted and jobless, Ben is approached by the producers of The Running Man, the highest-rated show on TV, and offered a shot at redemption and a $1 billion prize if he runs.

Ben is the Runner and the face of the violent nationwide game show. A pack of Hunters—professional assassins—chase him throughout the city, gunning for their bonuses as they pursue Ben. But as they do so, it’s all on national TV, with millions of viewers watching. When he’s revealed as a “traitor,” an enemy of the state, Richards is given a head start of 12 hours. From there, it’s a race to see who can kill, or be killed, first.

The structure of the show is simple: the last man standing after 30 days wins a billion dollars. No one has made it past 197 hours in the books, and no contestant in the past 30 years has come within range of that total. But as an incentive to continue playing, the contestant gets a certain amount of cash per day they stay alive, and cash for killing Hunters. This might not sound like much of an incentive, but desperate people play The Running Man for a host of reasons, and sometimes a little financial incentive can go a long way. Ben Richards, it turns out, does pretty well for himself in the game—but as anyone who has read King’s writing knows, things are not so happy in the end.

The film adaptation, released in 1987, took a few liberties with the source material. In addition to being recast as a sci-fi action film, it was very much a product of the 1980s and Schwarzenegger’s acting style, which was very much about flashy stunts and yelling. Ben Richards was more buff and capable and a lot less “scrawny” and “pre-tubercular” as described in the books. He was given a family for motivation, and the movie was much more fun than the bleak satire of the book. It wasn’t a bad film by any means—it had charm, style, and fun and was probably more successful than a straight-up adaptation would have been at the time.

According to an interview with Wright by Empire Magazine last year, he and Bacall wanted to be “faithful” to King’s story while also writing their version. This new trailer seems to do just that, with the film being billed as “from the creators of the Stephen King novel” but written and directed by Wright. In the film, Ben Richards is played by Glen Powell, known for his work on Nowhere, Twister, and the Bridgerton series. Josh Brolin plays the egotistical and charismatic showrunner Dan Killian, who manipulates Ben into signing up for the game and sets it all in motion. As Ben rises in the ratings and becomes an underdog and a threat to the establishment, he becomes a favorite with the audience.

Lee Pace stars as Evan McCone, the lead Hunter and Ben’s primary pursuer. Jayme Lawson plays Richard’s wife Sheila, while Colman Domingo plays the show’s host, Bobby Thompson. Michael Cera has a role in the film as rebel Bradley Throckmorton. Other cast members include William H. Macy, David Zayas, Emilia Jones, Karl Glusman, Katy O’Brian, and Daniel Ezra.

There’s More Bachman on the Way

In addition to The Running Man, fans of King’s Bachman period will have another dystopian contest thriller to look forward to this year: The Long Walk. Written by King in 1979, this film was also revealed to be in development in 2021, with Wright set to produce and run for streaming on Prime Video. The film is due to release on September 12, 2025, just two months before The Running Man on November 7.

Fans of King may recognize the premise as one he has toyed with a few times. Both the novel and subsequent film version of The Running Man explore similar themes of media manipulation, government cruelty, and the violence that inevitably comes with such open bloodsport. The Long Walk is similarly set in a repressive society with citizens forced to run until they are the last one left, or they die. Like The Running Man, it also follows a group of characters who run to play the game as well as for other reasons. It will be interesting to see how both films fare in the streaming and theatrical marketplace, as well as how they explore themes of desperation, government control, and the relationship between violence and entertainment.