The Running Man: Edgar Wright Puts the “Fun” Back in Futuristic Death Sport [film trailer]
If you’ve ever found yourself watching a reality TV programme and thinking, This would be vastly improved if at least half the contestants were being pursued by flamboyantly dressed sociopaths, then Edgar Wright has read your mind—and your deepest, most worrying diary entries.
Yes indeed, the director of Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver is turning his mischievous lens on The Running Man, that most dystopian of black comedies, adapted from Stephen King’s novel written under his Richard Bachman alter ego—presumably to avoid embarrassing his main name by association with televised gladiatorial carnage.
This new incarnation isn’t a remake of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger classic but rather a more “faithful” adaptation of King’s original vision. So expect fewer neon Lycra costumes and a little more existential dread about a world that finds watching desperate people get slaughtered the height of evening entertainment. Though, knowing Edgar Wright, there’ll still be plenty of neon and a wink to the absurdity of it all.
Glen Powell steps into the running shoes of Ben Richards, a desperate everyman forced onto a deadly game show to survive—and if the trailer is any indication, he’s bringing the same grinning charisma that made him the scene-stealer of Top Gun: Maverick. Josh Brolin appears as Dan Killian, the show’s producer and professional dispenser of sinister smirks. Colman Domingo looks to be having the time of his life as Bobby Thompson, the oily host who probably signs autographs while bodies are being bagged backstage.
The supporting cast is a veritable buffet of recognisable faces: Lee Pace as a hunter who will presumably make murder look stylish, Michael Cera as a rebel (yes, really), Emilia Jones as a civilian inconveniently caught up in all the running, William H. Macy as an enigmatic ally, and Sean Hayes as…well, presumably comic relief before something explodes.
Filmed primarily in the UK—with at least one week of chaos unleashed inside Wembley Stadium—The Running Man looks poised to be part action spectacle, part satirical finger-wag, and part showcase for Edgar Wright’s encyclopaedic knowledge of pop music. The trailer dropped to much fanfare, complete with a Sly and the Family Stone remix, because nothing screams “murderous dystopia” quite like funky brass riffs.
Here at SFcrowsnest magazine, we can’t help but relish a good satire about the unholy marriage of capitalism and voyeurism. And in this brave new world—where influencers are collaborating on marketing campaigns for films about killing people for sport—you have to admire the meta commitment.
So mark your calendars for 7 November 2025, when The Running Man sprints into cinemas to remind us that yes, reality television can always get worse—and no, you probably wouldn’t survive the pilot episode.
Ready, set…run.
