The Running Man’s final trailer amps up the high-octane action

[Karlston]

Get ready for what could be the “biggest underdog win in game show history.”

Credit: Paramount Pictures

 

 

It’s shaping up to be an excellent season for Stephen King adaptations. In September, we got The Long Walk, an excellent (though harrowing) adaptation of King’s 1979 Richard Bachman novel. Last month, HBO debuted its new series IT: Welcome to Derry, which explores the mythology and origins of Pennywise the killer clown. And this Friday is the premiere of The Running Man, director Edgar Wright’s (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver, Last Night in Soho) take on King’s novel of the same name. So naturally Paramount has released a final trailer to lure us to the theater.

 

As previously reported, the 1987 action film starring Schwarzenegger was only loosely based on King’s novel, preserving the basic concept and very little else in favor of more sci-fi gadgetry and high-octane action. It was a noisy, entertaining romp—and very late ’80s—but it lacked King’s subtler satirical tone. Wright expressed interest in adapting his own version of The Running Man in 2017, and Paramount greenlit the project four years later. Wright and co-screenwriter Michael Bacall envisioned their film as less of a remake and more of a faithful adaptation of King’s original novel. (We’ll see if that faithfulness extends to the novel’s bleak ending.)

 

Per the official premise:

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 addition to Powell and Brolin, the cast includes Lee Pace as lead Hunter Evan McCone; Jayme Lawson as Ben’s wife, Sheila; Colman Domingo as Bobby Thompson, game show host; Michael Cera as the rebel Bradley Throckmorton; William H. Macy as a man who aids Ben; David Zayas as Richard Manuel; Emilia Jones as Amelia, a hostage civilian; Karl Glusman as a Hunter; and Katy O’Brian and Daniel Ezra as two other contestants on the show.

 

July brought us the first trailer, which was heavily focused on Dan’s backstory and setting up the premise, and last month, attendees at New York Comic Con were treated to a full 12 minutes of footage. This final trailer amps up the action, with plenty of car chases, fisticuffs, automatic gunfire, and BFEs (“Big F*#king Explosions”)—all in the name of getting butts in seats. It just might work.

 

The Running Man hits theaters on November 14, 2025.

 

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Posted Tuesday 11 November 2025 at 12:36 pm AEST (my time).

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