Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for ‘The Running Man’ movie and book.
Edgar Wright‘s new adaptation of the Stephen King novel, The Running Man, delivers a much more faithful version than the 1987 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger’s movie, directed by Paul Michael Glaser and written by Steven E. de Souza, is very different from King’s original novel, which the author first published in 1982 under the pen name of Richard Bachman. However, while Wright’s movie hews much more closely to the book, it still features a vastly different ending from the novel. It’s time to explore how the new movie alters the utterly bleak and downright nihilistic ending of the book.
King’s Book Features a Bleak, Nihilistic Ending
Wright’s movie works fairly well in adapting King’s source material, focusing on working-class family man Ben Richards (Glen Powell), who voluntarily enters the deadly Running Man television show to pay for expensive medicine for his and his wife’s (Jayme Lawson) sick infant daughter. However, the book features a shockingly bleak ending. In the book, the amoral executive producer of The Running Man, Killian, reveals that Richards’ wife and child have been murdered by assailants, and he offers Richards a deal to become the new lead hunter in the death game.
With nothing left to lose, Richards cuts contact with Killian and kills the crew of the flight he’s on, suffering a mortal gunshot wound in the process. Richards provides Amelia, a hostage he picked up, with a parachute to escape the plane, which he then flies directly into the Games Network’s main tower. The last thing Killian sees is Richards flipping the bird before the catastrophic crash. It’s a dark and tragic ending, reflecting the cynical attitude of the era and complementing the dystopic style of King’s narrative. However, Wright and co-writer Michael Bacall could not maintain that ending over forty years after the novel was published, and changes were necessary.
Wright Significantly Alters the Ending of Stephen King’s Novel
The new movie features a similar climax aboard a jet, with Killian (Josh Brolin) offering Richards a deal, much like the book. However, the death of Richards’ family appears to be part of an elaborate ruse by Killian to manipulate him. Richards fights the other hunters, who are disguised as the flight crew, and the game’s top hunter, McCone (Lee Pace), is revealed as a former long-lasting contestant of The Running Man. Amelia, now sympathetic to Richards’ cause, escapes the plane with a parachute and spreads the anti-government manifesto written by the rebel dissident, Elton Parrakis (Michael Cera). The jet never reaches Killian or The Network building and gets shot down by the tower’s defensive missile system, and Richards seemingly dies.
A post-climax epilogue reveals that Richards found the means to survive the explosion by using a hidden escape pod system. Additionally, Richards’ wife, Sheila, and daughter are alive and safe, and Sheila sees that her husband survived the explosion. Thanks to the efforts of Amelia and the rebel livestreamer Bradley Mockthorton (Daniel Ezra), who helped Richards earlier in the movie, the public has begun revolting against the government and Killian. The story ends with an unruly crowd starting a riot in the television studio while Killian is attempting to launch the next season of The Running Man, and a disguised Richards then emerges from the crowd, preparing to shoot and execute the head of the snake.
Wright and Bacall craft a much happier and more heroic ending for Richards, who also becomes a folk hero and the face of the brewing revolution against the fascistic, authoritarian government regime, the state-controlled network, and Killian. Ultimately, the working-class public rises to overthrow the oppressive system, and Richards gains some payback against Killian in a far more emotionally satisfying and hopeful conclusion. However, the ending plays at odds with the rest of the movie, which was building to an ending similar to that of King’s novel.
Why Wright Changed the Ending
Although Wright ventured to adapt The Running Man far more faithfully to King’s novel than the 1987 film, he always knew his ending would differ. Speaking to The National, Wright stated, “We were never going to do the ending in the book for reasons that I hope are obvious. It wasn’t a case of toning anything down. We just didn’t want to do that exact ending.” The director continued, “Something quite as bleak and nihilistic as that isn’t the ending that feels right for today. Stephen King was happy we changed it.” The new ending leaves viewers with a sense of optimism that Richards becomes the face and leader of the rebel movement, who will bring down people like Killian.
Wright also informed The National, “We wanted to come up with an ending that has the same fire to it, but just in a different way.” The director’s point is well-stated, and it’s understandable why the book’s ending, written two decades before the events of 9/11, would no longer play well in a movie such as this in 2025. That is the clear meaning behind Wright’s statement of “for reasons that I hope are obvious.” Nevertheless, the new ending still comes off as far too happy and idyllic, diverging from “the fire” of King’s book.
In a way, it has more in common with the 1987 movie’s action hero ending, as Schwarzenegger’s Richards violently executes evil Running Man host Damon Killian (Richard Dawson) with the same rocket sled the show uses for its doomed contestants. Granted, Wright’s version does not take the same 1980s machismo approach, but it still lacks the bite of the original novel. Although the changes are understandable, as a faithful adaptation of the book’s ending likely would’ve been tough to pull off, the new ending still misses the mark, failing to strike the right balance of cynicism and some mildly realistic optimism.
The Running Man is now available to rent or buy on VOD services in the U.S.
- Release Date
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November 14, 2025
- Director
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Edgar Wright
