Glen Powell Says Edgar Wright’s The Running Man Channels Braveheart And Gladiator, With Ordinary Heroes Seeking Redemption

Glen Powell is out here selling a dystopian death-match movie like it is a historical epic, and honestly, I kind of get it. His new take on Stephen King’s The Running Man (with Edgar Wright directing) isn’t just about people being hunted for cash on TV. Powell says it is built more like a classic, boots-on-the-ground saga, just with drones and ratings instead of swords and empires.

"The structure of the movie is more like Braveheart and Gladiator."

So what is this version of The Running Man?

Wright is adapting King’s 1982 novel (back when he published it as Richard Bachman), and Powell is playing Ben Richards, an unemployed dad whose daughter needs medicine he cannot afford. Backed into a corner, Ben signs up for a reality show called The Running Man. The rules are simple: survive 30 days on the run while a team of professional Hunters tracks you down, and you walk away with $1 billion. No one has ever pulled it off. That last part matters a lot.

Powell frames it as a story that starts intimate and gets bigger fast. You have a regular guy trying to save his kid, then realizing the system that put him there is, let’s say, not exactly invested in human dignity. He talked about characters rediscovering their humanity in a setup designed to strip it away, which is a nice, pointed way to hint that this isn’t just a futuristic obstacle course.

The satirical edge (and why Wright’s sensibilities make sense)

Powell also brought up 1976’s Network as a tonal compass. If you have seen Edgar Wright’s stuff, that tracks. The movie is tapping into the idea of TV pushing past any moral line for eyeballs, and how people get turned into content along the way. Network was a dark comedy about a desperate broadcaster chasing ratings at all costs; Powell says the new Running Man carries that same energy about the lengths people will go and the dehumanization baked into the spectacle.

• Directed by: Edgar Wright
• Based on: Stephen King’s 1982 novel The Running Man (published as Richard Bachman)
• Star: Glen Powell as Ben Richards
• Premise: A father out of options signs up for a lethal reality game
• The game: Evade a team of Hunters for 30 days
• The prize: $1 billion
• Success rate: Zero winners to date
• Influences Powell cites: Braveheart, Gladiator (for structure), and Network (for tone)
• Powell shared these details with GamesRadar+ during an interview in London
• Release dates: UK on November 12, 2025; US on November 14, 2025

If Wright and Powell really thread the needle between the chase-thriller mechanics and that sharper media satire, this could be more than just running and hiding. It might actually have something to say while it sprints.