Running Man with Glen Powell: Casting, release, story… everything you need to know about the new sci-fi action film adapted from Stephen King

With eight feature films under his belt over two decades, Edgar Wright is a relatively rare filmmaker who knows how to be wanted, but the wait is always rewarded. We had to wait four years to see him again after his 2021 dub, when his Sparks documentary was followed a few months later by Last Night in Soho, but here he is again in the US and in the not-too-distant future with a new adaptation of Stephen King’s Running Man, published in 1982. As this film approaches our people.

Release date: When is Running Man coming out? where can i see

Originally scheduled for November 5, 2025, the feature film has been slightly delayed and will now hit theaters from the 19th, where the public will be able to make the most of the spectacle on offer. Thus, in France, it will be challenged by two other adaptations (Jean Valjean and the Evil One – Part II), as well as Dominique Moll’s Dossier 137.

Casting: Who Takes Arnold Schwarzenegger?

You may not know, but Running Man was already adapted for cinema in 1987. Eight years after Starsky & Hutch, in which he first starred, Paul Michael Glazer would film Arnold Schwarzenegger alongside Yaphet Kotto (Live and Let Die, Alien). No less than four decades later, it’s Glenn Powell, Hollywood’s new darling, trying to survive thirty days on live television, win a billion dollars, and manage to pay for the treatment he needs to save his daughter.

And needless to say, the casting is attractive, with the Top Gun Maverick and Twisters actor matching (or beating, it depends) Colman Domingo as the host of Running Man, Josh Brolin as the big boss of the channel that broadcasts the game or even Lee Pace as The Masked One. The unforgettable Jaime Lawson (Batman, The Sinners) as the hero’s wife, Cathy O’Brien as the candidate, or even Michael Cera, who joins Edgar Wright fifteen years after being his Scott Pilgrim.

If you’re wondering if an Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo is on the agenda, know that the answer will be in the movie… but the trailer gives a big hint. It is enough for us to question the nature of the film.

Story: What does the running man say? Is this a sequel or a remake?

Co-written by Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall, his Scott Pilgrim co-writer, The New Running Man takes the basic plot of Stephen King’s novel (set, funnily enough, in 2025) and is more faithful: in an apparently close but uncertain game, a man agrees to participate in a big financial game. Thirty days, with killers to win a billion dollars to pay for the care of a seriously ill daughter.

And that’s all we can say, because the rest, between deadly threats, obstacles, unfortunate encounters and all kinds of manipulation, will be available in cinemas from November 19. But know that we are really facing a pure remake (or new adaptation) and not in the presence of the 1987 sequel. Possible for several reasons.

For starters, the main character is still named Ben Richards, as in the book and its adaptation, which came out in 1987. We find Laughlin (Yaphet Kotto yesterday, Katy O’Brian today) or Killian, the channel boss, played by Richard Dawson and Josh Brolin in Paul Michael Glazer and Edgar Wright, respectively. So we are indeed facing a new adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman (as “desolation”).

If you’ve read the latter or seen the 1987 feature film, you think you know the ending… but you don’t. Edgar Wright recently explained that he had to make changes to the score for reasons related to recent American history, but Stephen King confirmed his choice. See you in a month or less to discover them.