Major Spoiler Ahead for The Running Man
Glen Powell-led and Edgar Wright-helmed The Running Man is interestingly a different version than Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rendition of Ben Richard’s tale, and the most accurate version of Stephen King’s novella of the same name. But it’s still not a dot-to-dot adaptation of what the novella cooks up. In fact, it veers off and has a major ending change, but fret not, it’s Stephen King-approved.
Quickly catching you up to speed, in the book’s climax, we read Ben taking wealthy Amelia (Emilia Jones) hostage on a plane along with his lead hunter Evan McCone (Lee Pace) under the guise that he has a bomb hidden in Amelia’s bag. But to his dismay, the head of the game show network, Killian (Josh Brolin), calls Ben, telling him he knows he is bluffing but still tries to strike a bargain by offering him McCone’s job.
When Ben refuses the offer, Killian tells him there is nothing left for him because his wife and child are already dead. Desperate, Ben accepts the offer before killing the crew and Evan and ejecting Amelia to safety. He then crashed the plane into the network building where everything began, killing Killian and himself in the process.
Contrary to the book, Powell’s The Running Man sees Ben surviving the crash by speculatively using the plane’s escape pod feature. Later, it is shown that he indeed survives as he pays for groceries that his wife and daughter are purchasing.
While talking to Entertainment Weekly about the film’s ending, Stephen King said he liked what Edgar Wright did with the story. “I like the ending of Edgar’s version of The Running Man very much.” He continued, “Can’t say too much — spoilers — but I think readers of the novel will be satisfied because they get to have it both ways. If you see what I mean, and I’m betting you do.”
In fact, King knew the plan all along, so the ending didn’t really come as a surprise. He was sent the scripts before the filming started.
Related: The Running Man Actor Recalls Bombing a Script Reading with Dustin Hoffman