The Running Man’s Ending Upends Stephen King’s Book

Edgar Wright finally put his stamp on The Running Man, and for most of the movie he plays it closer to Stephen King than the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger version ever did. Then those last five minutes hit, and yeah, that is where the book purists are getting loud.

Quick refresher: the book vs. the Arnold movie

Stephen King published The Running Man in 1982 under his Richard Bachman pen name. Five years later, Hollywood turned it into a very loose adaptation with Schwarzenegger. King has never been shy about how he feels about that one; he once joked it was like This Is Spinal Tap because it 'goes to 11,' and said his wife watched it with her fingers in her ears. Subtle, it was not.

Wright goes faithful... until the ending

Wright's take, now playing in United States theaters, mostly tracks with the book. Ben Richards (Glen Powell) and Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) are the key players, and the world of the Games Network is very much intact. But the movie swerves hard at the finish.

How King's novel actually ends

In the book, Richards is mortally wounded by gunfire, hijacks a plane, and aims it straight at the Games Network headquarters. He knows exactly what he is doing. He crashes the aircraft into the building, killing himself and Killian. King does not play coy about the impact:

'Heeling over slightly, the Lockheed struck the Games Building dead on, three quarters of the way up. Its tanks were still better than a quarter full. Its speed was slightly over five hundred miles an hour. The explosion was tremendous, lighting up the night like the wrath of God, and it rained fire twenty blocks away.'

What Wright changes on screen

Wright stages the same kamikaze run, but before Richards can hit the building, a missile blows the aircraft out of the sky. He is presumed dead. Then the movie reveals he actually survived. With a growing rebellion pushing to take down Killian's company and the Games Network machine, Richards resurfaces at the glitzy premiere for the next season of The Running Man. A riot erupts, and Killian is murdered on live television.

The big differences at a glance

• Book: Richards, fatally shot, crashes his plane into the Games Network HQ, killing himself and Killian.
• Movie: A missile downs the plane first; Richards is believed dead but lives, returns, and Killian dies amid a televised riot.
• Ambiguity vs. certainty: The book leaves the aftermath up to you; the film spells out survival and revolution.
• Family question: The novel keeps it unclear whether Richards' family was truly killed or if Killian lied; Wright gives a definitive answer.
• Tone shift: King ends on bleak, scorched-earth irony; Wright opts for a cleaner, crowd-pleasing punchline.

Why fans are split

The movie is mostly the faithful version many have wanted, which is exactly why the ending is stirring up debate. A lot of readers prefer King's harsher, more open-ended finish that lets you sit with the system's rot and decide what happens next. By confirming Richards' fate and tidying up the fallout, Wright trades ambiguity for catharsis. I get the impulse, especially with Powell in the lead and a modern audience expecting a reckoning, but it definitely changes the flavor of The Running Man in the last reel.