Edgar Wright Offers Update on ‘The Running Man’ Reboot, Says Stephen King Novel Is ‘Crying Out’ to Be Adapted

Edgar Wright is back in the limelight after producing “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” the critically adored anime expansion of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” which reunites the entire cast of his beloved 2010 film. But the success of the Netflix series has many fans wondering when Wright will get back in the director’s chair for another movie.

In a new appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Wright offered some hints about what his first film since “Last Night in Soho” might be. The director gave an update on his planned reboot of “The Running Man,” Stephen King’s dystopian novel that inspired the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie of the same name. Wright explained that his film would not necessarily be a remake of the movie, but a more faithful adaptation of King’s novel, including parts that director Paul Michael Glaser omitted.

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“’The Running Man’ is something that is in active development,” Wright said. “Why is that interesting to me? It’s like, I like the film but I like the book more, and they didn’t really adapt the book. Even as a teenager when I saw the Schwarzenegger film I was like, ‘Oh, this isn’t like the book at all!’ And I think, ‘Nobody’s done that book.’ So when that came up, I was thinking, and Simon Kinberg says, ‘Do you have any interest in ‘The Running Man?’ I said, ‘You know what? I’ve often thought that that book is something crying out to be adapted.’ Now, that doesn’t mean that it’s easy! But it’s something that we are working on, yes. I’ll tell you that much.”

“The Running Man” was originally published in 1982 under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman. Taking place in 2025, the book follows reality show contestants who are forced to run for their lives as the American public is encouraged to murder them for cash prizes. Wright has been attached to direct a remake for Paramount since 2021.

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