The Running Man: Edgar Wright’s Dystopian Film Adaptation

The Running Man: Edgar Wright’s Dystopian Adaptation

Even when he’s not in a Navy cockpit, Glen Powell has a need for speed. The first trailer for The Running Man raced onto the internet today, featuring the Top Gun: Maverick star taking on a role previously played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in a deliciously ’80s adaptation of Stephen King‘s dystopian novel.

The New Take

Hailing from director Edgar Wright, this new Running Man is running a very different race. Hewing more closely to the novel — which King published under his since-abandoned nom de plume of Richard Bachman — the updated film has an edgy sense of humor and fleet-footed action sequences that unfold in multiple locations across the U.S.

Appearing at CinemaCon earlier this year, Wright described his take as a “very intense, dangerous road movie.” He praised his leading man for never taking a breather during the movie’s rapid-fire production. “He literally and figuratively threw himself into it, as you can see,” Wright said of Powell.

This trailer drop is the first of several laps The Running Man will take ahead of its Nov. 7 release date. Here’s what you need to know about the film as it gets into shape to compete at the holiday season box office.

The Backstory

First hitting shelves in the long, long ago year of 1982, King’s novel transported readers to the then-far, far away year of 2025, imagining a future marred by economic inequality, a dictator-in-chief, and reality television. In this harsh future, Ben Richards has only one viable option for finding the money to help his daughter battle a fatal illness: sign up for the Games Network, the government-run TV channel where desperate people compete in some of the most dangerous games around.

Richards ends up being recruited for The Running Man, where “runners” race across the country — and around the world — while pursued by an army of Hunters tasked with executing them with extreme prejudice. Imagine The Amazing Race by way of a more lethal Chasing Tail and you’ve got the general gist.

What’s Different

The Schwarzenegger Running Man famously ditched the cross-country premise for an American Gladiators approach where the action remained confined to a more controlled gauntlet of Hunters and obstacles. The 1987 film also featured María Conchita Alonso as a sidekick and love interest for Richards and actual game-show host Richard Dawson as Damon Killian, The Running Man‘s creative lead and emcee. Jesse Ventura, Mick Fleetwood, and Dweezil Zappa rounded out the eccentric cast.

Wright’s version goes back to the source, ditching the love interest and swapping back in Ben’s wife, Sheila, played by Jayme Lawson. Meanwhile, James Brolin portrays Running Man producer Dan Killian and Colman Domingo keeps the studio audience entertained as host Bobby Thompson. Also in the mix is Lee Pace as a particularly deadly Hunter, Katy O’Brien as a fellow runner, and Michael Cera as a freedom fighter eager to recruit Ben to their cause.

Is Powell the New Cruise?

On the heels of last summer’s blockbuster sequel Twisters, The Running Man will be the latest test of Powell’s star power — not to mention his potential status as the heir to Tom Cruise‘s “do it yourself” approach to action stardom. “I have never worked harder on a movie in my life,” Powell told the CinemaCon crowd, saying that his body was “thrashed and smashed” throughout shooting.

As evidenced by the trailer, Powell also gets to flex some of the comic muscles he showcased in his hit Sydney Sweeney rom-com Anyone But You. Even in his most perilous moments, Ben is quick on his feet with insults and color commentary, winning the audience — both those in the world of the movie and those watching in theaters — to his side.

“The Running Man is one of those movies that gives the audience somebody to cheer for,” Wright promised. You might say Ben Richards is a real… maverick.