Edgar Wright Changed The Running Man Ending For Being "Too Brutal"

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Edgar Wright Changed The Running Man Ending For Being "Too Brutal"

Edgar Wright discusses the changes he made to his adaptation of The Running Man, including the major differences for the ending

Published Mon, 13 Apr 2026 04:36:08 -0500
by Gavin Sheehan
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Article Summary

• Edgar Wright changed The Running Man ending to avoid the novel’s darker, more brutal conclusion.
• Key character deaths from Stephen King’s original book were removed in Wright’s film adaptation.
• Wright wanted the ending to spark hope and a revolution, not mirror real-life tragedies like 9/11.
• The Running Man joins other sci-fi films, like Minority Report, in choosing less grim endings than their source novels.

Director Edgar Wright took a different approach to his 2025 adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Running Man, changing the ending in a significant way. For those who have seen the film, many of the components of Wright's version starring Glen Powell are more in line with the original novel than the flashy, futuristic version directed by Paul Michael Glaser with Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987. But those who have read the book know there are key changes to the ending, which Wright addressed in a new interview with Empire.

WARNING: SPOLIERS AHEAD!

The Running Man Received Some Key Changes For Its Ending

If you're not aware, the original King novel sees Ben Richards' (Powell) wife and child die, with Richards eventually sacrificing himself at the end. According to Wright, "In the original draft, we did do the thing where Sheila and Cathy passed away. But to be honest, as soon as you cast actors in those roles, I don't think I could have done it, even if it had been in the script. Like, this is too brutal."

Meanwhile, on the subject of saving Richards for the epic uprising ending, Wright said, "We wanted him to be the spark of the revolution. That was in the first draft. […] "We were never going to do the ending from the book. It obviously has real-life parallels with a horrific real-life tragedy. We thought it'd be in incredibly poor taste to evoke 9/11. That was not ever a discussion."

The idea of invoking 9/11 is an interesting take from Wright, as the film's positive ending has been getting comparisons to another sci-fi novel-turned-film: Minority Report. The 2002 film adaptation starring Tom Cruise follows a lot of the original Phillip K. Dick novel as well; however, the ending was changed from the book to give audiences a less grim finale, as the country was still reeling from 9/11. It seems the recurring themes with dystopian sci-fi novels are to make people happier rather than to deal with a sad ending.

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