The Running Man Won’t Have Stephen King’s Controversial Ending, And Edgar Wright Admits Getting The Author’s Approval Of The Changes Was ‘Nerve-Wracking’

by

Hey everyone, and happy October! As a huge Stephen King fan, I always get so excited this time of year – it’s the perfect month to be a Constant Reader. I love spending the 31 days watching all of his scary movies and maybe even creeping myself out with books like Pet Sematary or Revival right before bed. Now, looking ahead to what’s new, IT: Welcome To Derry is coming to HBO on October 26th, which is great. But for this week’s King Beat, I wanted to jump ahead and talk about the next big adaptation coming in 2025: Edgar Wright’s The Running Man.

The main news this week focuses on changes being made to the third act of the Glen Powell remake, but that’s not all happening in the world of Stephen King. We also have the director of the new movie Good Boy talking about his hopes to work on King’s stories, and a new behind-the-scenes look at Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk. There’s plenty to cover, so let’s get started!

Edgar Wright Prepares Stephen King Fans For A Changed Ending In His Running Man Adaptation – Noting It Got The Stamp Of Approval From King Himself

When it was announced that Edgar Wright was making a new movie based on Stephen King’s The Running Man, I immediately had two reactions. First, I thought it was about time – the book is excellent and one of King’s strongest early novels, but the earlier film with Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t really follow the story. My second thought was, “They’re definitely not going to use the same ending as the book.”

I’ve recently changed my mind about how the movie should end. I’d really like to see it follow the dark and dramatic conclusion of the original story… but it seems that won’t be happening. Director Wright has confirmed that he’s created a new ending for his version of The Running Man – and he’s shared that getting Stephen King’s approval on these changes was a very stressful experience.

Featuring Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, and Lee Pace, The Running Man isn’t scheduled for release in cinemas until November 14th. However, the UK magazine Film Stories has shared a preview of the upcoming Stephen King movie’s ending without revealing any spoilers. During a conversation, Edgar Wright confessed that a direct adaptation of the book’s final moments wasn’t seriously considered. He also mentioned that sending the script – co-written with Michael Bacall, including that ending – to Stephen King was one of the most nerve-wracking days of the entire filmmaking process. The filmmaker explained,

Perhaps the most stressful moment of the whole process was emailing the screenplay to King and clicking send. From the beginning, everyone understood that [the novel’s ending] wouldn’t be adapted exactly as it appeared in the book.

If you haven’t read Stephen King’s The Running Man and aren’t familiar with the plot, let me explain: the story ends with the hero getting his revenge on the villain by taking over a plane and crashing it into a tall building. Many people have pointed out the unsettling resemblance between this ending and the tragic events of September 11, 2001. It appears that Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall decided to steer clear of that sensitive subject altogether.

As a huge movie fan, I always find it interesting to hear about how adaptations come together. Apparently, the filmmakers weren’t going to follow the book’s ending, and Stephen King actually knew that going in! So he was ready to see a fresh take on the story – a really dark game show where someone is hunted and just tries to survive. I can imagine Edgar Wright was nervous about changing things up, but thankfully, King gave him a positive reaction to his work, which must have been a huge relief! It’s good when authors are open to creative interpretations.

He knew, even before seeing the script, that we wouldn’t be following the book’s ending. And when Stephen King replied to my email, he said, ‘I was really interested to see how you’d handle the ending, and I think you did a fantastic job.’ I was really pleased with that feedback. It was very gratifying.

There’s only about a month and a half left to wait until we can finally see how it all ends – and you can rest assured we’ll be sharing much more about The Running Man before its release in mid-November.

Of Course, The Director Of New Dog Horror Flick Good Boy Would Be Interested In Stephen King’s Famous Dog Adaptation Cujo

In March, fans of Stephen King received some surprising and wonderful news: Netflix announced they were creating a new version of Cujo. Shortly after, industry publications reported that Darren Aronofsky was chosen to direct. This was exciting news, considering Aronofsky is a highly respected filmmaker – however, if he were to step away from the project, another director has expressed interest: Ben Leonberg.

If you haven’t heard of him yet, Leonberg’s been getting a lot of buzz lately for his first feature film, Good Boy – it’s a horror movie starring his own dog, Indy, which is pretty cool! It’s obvious he’s a huge dog lover, but he’s also a massive Stephen King fan. When TopMob’s Sarah El-Mahmoud recently asked him about adapting one of King’s novels, Cujo was the very first title he mentioned:

Well, it seems pretty clear to me – and I believe someone is already exploring this – that Cujo is the answer. I really enjoy stories that feature dogs, as you might expect.

It’s hard to beat Cujo when talking about great dog-centered stories. However, if Darren Aronofsky proceeds with his Netflix film, Leonberg also has some alternative plans.

In a recent interview, the filmmaker didn’t mention any specific movies he’s interested in, but he shared that he first discovered Stephen King through the author’s collections of shorter works – novellas and short stories. Many of these stories have already been made into films – like Creepshow, Cat’s Eye, Children Of The Corn, Maximum Overdrive, Graveyard Shift, and the famous The Shawshank Redemption – but there are still lots of unadapted stories, and Leonberg is eager to potentially bring a fresh one to the big screen:

I first discovered his work through his early short story collections, and I’m a big fan of those. A lot of those stories haven’t been turned into movies or TV shows. In fact, I think the best Stephen King adaptations are often based on his short stories or novellas because filmmakers can really [develop the concept] and make it their own.

Leonberg also pointed out that Stephen King excels at exploring possibilities – asking questions like “What if a young girl possessed psychic abilities? Or what if a father struggling with alcohol and his family found themselves stuck in a haunted hotel?” He believes there are many short story ideas King has touched on that deserve further development.

Many of Stephen King’s earlier short stories contain fascinating ‘what if’ scenarios that haven’t been fully explored, likely because they aren’t as famous as his novels. However, the sheer number of ideas he generates is truly remarkable – he’s an absolute source of inspiration.

I was so excited to see Good Boy after its debut at the SXSW Film Festival earlier this year, and now it’s finally hitting theaters this Friday, October 3! I’ve been waiting for this release and can’t wait to check it out.

The Long Walk Featurette Dives Into The Origins Of How The New Adaptation Got Made

And finally this week, I wanted to share this new featurette from Lionsgate about the making of The Long Walk. Now, those of you who know me know I’m a bit of a movie geek – I just love learning about all the choices and challenges that go into bringing a film to life. The Long Walk is particularly interesting in that regard, because for years, people said it *couldn’t* be adapted for the screen. A lot of really gifted filmmakers tried and failed to get this novel made before director Francis Lawrence, screenwriter JT Mollner, and producer Roy Lee figured out a way to make it happen.

This new video doesn’t cover the complete backstory of The Long Walk’s journey in Hollywood (it doesn’t mention the work of George A. Romero, or even acknowledge Frank Darabont), but it does explain that Francis Lawrence faced a lot of obstacles before he could make the horror film. Earlier attempts at getting the movie made were rejected, but Lawrence eventually got the green light – and now his finished film is showing in theaters.

That concludes this week’s The King Beat, but I’ll be returning to TopMob next Thursday with a fresh column to cover all the major happenings in the world of Stephen King, as usual.

Read More

2025-10-02 19:12