A number of classic movies have been made from Stephen King novels, including Carrie, Cujo, The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption and The Shining, just to name a few. But one Stephen King novel that has never received a movie adaptation from Hollywood is The Long Walk. That is until now.
Set to be among the 2025 new movie slate, The Long Walk brings King’s 1979 novel (written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman) to the big screen. There have been a few attempts to develop it prior, from notable filmmakers like George A. Romero and Frank Darabont, but their productions stalled. Now movie fans are going to see King’s dystopian tale play out.
Here’s everything that you need to know about The Long Walk, from when it's premiering to its cast and the movie’s trailer.
The Long Walk release date
The Long Walk will premiere on September 12 in US and UK movie theaters.
The Long Walk cast
A group of up-and-coming Hollywood actors are leading the way in The Long Walk. That includes:
- Cooper Hoffman (Saturday Night)
- David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus)
- Garrett Wareing (Ransom Canyon)
- Tut Nyuot (The Witcher: Blood Origin)
- Charlie Plummer (The Return)
- Ben Wang (Karate Kid: Legends)
- Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit)
- Jordan Gonzalez (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin)
- Joshua Odjick (Three Pines)
- Josh Hamilton
Also starring in the movie are Mark Hamill (The Life of Chuck) as the Major and Judy Greer (The Best Christmas Pageant Ever) as Mrs. Garraty.
The Long Walk plot
Here is the official synopsis for The Long Walk, with the adaptation of King’s novel written by JT Mollner:
“From the highly anticipated adaptation of master storyteller Stephen King’s first-written novel, and Francis Lawrence, the visionary director of The Hunger Games franchise films (Catching Fire, Mockingjay – Pts. 1 & 2 , and The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), comes The Long Walk, an intense, chilling, and emotional thriller that challenges audiences to confront a haunting question: how far could you go?”
That’s admittedly a little vague, but based on the description of the book, The Long Walk centers on a group of boys that compete in a grueling annual competition where they walk across a dystopian America until there is only one left standing.
The Long Walk trailer
Watch the trailer for The Long Walk right here:
The Long Walk director
Francis Lawrence directs The Long Walk. Lawrence is best known for directing The Hunger Games movies, which also includes the upcoming entry, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Outside of The Hunger Games franchise, Lawrence has directed Constantine, I Am Legend, Water for Elephants, Red Sparrow and Slumberland.
The Long Walk behind the scenes
Lionsgate is the studio behind The Long Walk, in association with Media Capital Technologies, Vertical Entertainment and about:blank. Producers on the movie are Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Francis Lawrence and Cameron MacConomy.
As mentioned, Hollywood has tried a few times to get a movie version of The Long Walk made. George A. Romero was initially approached to make a version of the movie back in the 80s, but it never came to be.
Then in 2007, Frank Darabont acquired the rights with the intent to direct what would have been his fourth King adaptation (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist are the others), but his rights to the movie eventually lapsed before he could get the project together.
New Line Cinema then acquired the rights in 2018 and had André Øvredal attached to direct, but he dropped out in 2023. Later that year Lawrence was hired to direct.
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