The Long Walk (2025 film)

The Long Walk is an upcoming American dystopian horror film co-produced and directed by Francis Lawrence and written by JT Mollner. It is based on the 1979 novel by Stephen King (under the pseudonym Richard Bachman). The film stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Joshua Odjick, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill.

The Long Walk
Teaser poster
Directed by	Francis Lawrence
Screenplay by	JT Mollner
Based on	The Long Walk by Stephen King
Produced by	Francis Lawrence Roy Lee Cameron MacConomy Steven Schneider
Starring	Cooper Hoffman David Jonsson Garrett Wareing Joshua Odjick Tut Nyuot Charlie Plummer Ben Wang Roman Griffin Davis Jordan Gonzalez Josh Hamilton Judy Greer Mark Hamill
Cinematography	Jo Willems
Music by	Jeremiah Fraites
Production company	Vertigo Entertainment
Distributed by	Lionsgate
Release date	September 12, 2025 (2025-09-12)
Country	United States
Language	English

The Long Walk is scheduled to be released in the United States by Lionsgate on September 12, 2025.

Premise

In a dystopian United States ruled by a totalitarian regime, a group of young men enter an annual walking contest where they must walk at three miles per hour non-stop or be executed until only one of them is left alive.

Cast

• Cooper Hoffman as Raymond Garraty^[1]
• David Jonsson as Peter McVries^[1]
• Mark Hamill as the Major^[1]
• Garrett Wareing as Stebbins^[1]
• Charlie Plummer as Gary Barkovitch^[1]
• Ben Wang as Hank Olson^[1]
• Roman Griffin Davis as Thomas Curley^[2]
• Judy Greer as Ms. Garraty^[1]
• Tut Nyuot as Arthur Baker^[1]
• Jordan Gonzalez as Richard Harkness^[1]
• Joshua Odjick as Collie Parker^[1]
• Izabella Raven
• Josh Hamilton

Production

In 1988, George A. Romero was considered to direct the film adaptation, but it never came to fruition.^[3] By 2007, Frank Darabont had secured the rights to the film adaptation of the novel.^[4] He said that he would "get to it one day". He planned to make it low-budget and stated, "It'll be weird, existential and very contained".^[5] In April 2018, New Line Cinema was set to adapt a film based on the novel, with James Vanderbilt attached to write and produce the film along with Bradley Fischer and William Sherak through their Mythology Entertainment banner.^[6] In May 2019, it was announced that André Øvredal would direct the adaptation.^[7]

By November 2023, the film was to be produced by Lionsgate Films with Francis Lawrence directing from a screenplay by JT Mollner.^[8] On June 10, 2024, Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson joined the cast.^[9] The next month, Garrett Wareing (whose role Mollner confirmed on Twitter), Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Izabella Raven, Jordan Gonzalez, Joshua Odjick, Roman Griffin Davis, Mark Hamill, and Judy Greer joined the cast.^[10][11]

Filming

Principal photography began on July 24, 2024, in Winnipeg, and was expected to wrap by September 12.^[10][12]

Music

Jeremiah Fraites had composed the score for the film by March 2025.^[13]

Release

The Long Walk is scheduled to be released on September 12, 2025, by Lionsgate.^[14]

See also

• The Running Man (2025 film) – another dystopian film based on the novel by Stephen King