36 Years Later, New Stephen King Movie Reboot Falls for the Same Mistake as the Original
The iconic author hated this decision then, and he’s bound to hate it now, too.
Stephen King aka King of Horror is one of the most-adapted book authors of all time, with dozens of his novels and stories having been relayed to big and small screens alike. Decades later, the King craze doesn’t stop, and one of the author’s golden classics that already has an old Schwarzenegger-led live-action adaptation is getting another reboot… Unfortunately, it also repeats the OG movie’s biggest mistake.
The Running Man Gets a Fresh Reboot
Based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, The Running Man will show the alternative America — a dark and dystopian place with its own version of the Hunger Games called, believe it or not, The Running Man. This reality TV show is the biggest hit, but its essence is vile: it pits helpless victims against professional hunters, providing bloody and unhinged entertainment for the public.
In 1987, Arnold Schwarzenegger took on the role of Ben Richards, a police officer who, after refusing to follow an inhumane order, ends up as a “participant” of The Running Man and attempts to end the brutal show. In 2025, Top Gun: Maverick’s Glen Powell will do just the same in the reboot — and that’s where the problem lies.
New TRM Repeats the Original’s Mistake
While a good movie, 1987’s The Running Man wasn’t the best adaptation, and Stephen King himself had a very particular qualm with it. The iconic author didn’t like the casting choice for the main character, noting that the book Ben Richards was “as far from the Arnold Schwarzenegger character in the movie as you can get.”
The problem was Schwarzenegger’s impeccable physique. In the book, Stephen King described Ben Richards as “scrawny” at best, emphasizing how few chances of survival he had. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the killing machine that he is, never inspired any feeling other than “he’s gonna tear them all apart and win this thing.”
The 2025 reboot already fell for the same mistake: while Glen Powell is definitely no Prime Schwarzenegger, he’s a shredded man with great physique. Unless the director specifically makes Powell lose weight and stop with his gains, one Stephen King will have to be disappointed by the TRM adaptation once again, 38 years later.