The Running Man is turning into a Scott Pilgrim vs. The World reunion, at least in terms of its casting. On Friday, The Hollywood Reporter reported that both Michael Cera and Emilia Jones have joined the cast of Paramount’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. In the case of Cera, this sees the actor reunite with director Edgar Wright, how was also the filmmaker behind 2010’s Scott Pilgrim in which Cera played the titular role. The Running Man is set to kick off production in London early next year.
Cera and Jones are the latest cast announcements for the film. It was recently reported that Marvel alums Lee Pace and Josh Brolin had both been added to the film and before that, Twisters actor Katy O’Brian was cast in the film as well. They all join Glen Powell in the film. Set in a dystopian world where people enter to appear on violent game shows the totalitarian regime uses to control and placate the masses, in The Running Man, a man desperate for money for his sick daughter joins the popular show — called The Running Man — that sees teams of killers hunting down contestants. The longer a contestant survives and evades the killers, the more money that person makes. However, the desperate man will break all the rules as he plays the game and, in the process, expose the show’s dark secrets.
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Cera is set to play a naive rebel who tries to help Powell’s desperate man while Jones is set to play a privileged woman who is “blind to the oppression of the government.” O’Brian is set to play another contestant of the show while Brolin plays the ruthless game show producer and Pace will play the chief hunter on the trail of Powell’s character. The Running Man is set to open in theaters November 21, 2025.
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For Cera, his work in Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is one of his best known and best loved roles to date. It’s also a role that he recently returned to, reprising Scott Pilgrim to voice the character in Netflix’s animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. He also appeared as Alan in 2023’s hit Barbie and also appeared in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. Jones is best known for her role in 2021’s CODA as well as the Netflix series Locke & Key.
The Running Man Reboot Will Be More Faithful To King’s Novel
The upcoming The Running Man film isn’t the first time King’s novel has been adapted for the screen. Filmmaker Paul Michael adapted the story in a 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger that was a much looser adaptation of the story. When this new version was first announced back in 2021, it was at that time confirmed that the film would be closer to King’s work, something that Wright himself has previously addressed, revealing that while he likes the Schwarzenegger-starring movie, he likes the book more — and has always felt it needed to be adapted.
“In terms of things that I’ve been (doing), like you know, The Running Man which is something that is in active development. Why is that interesting to me? I like the film but I like the book more and they didn’t really adapt the book,” Wright said. “Even as a teenager when I saw the Schwarzenegger film I was like, ‘Oh this isn’t like the book at all,’ and I think nobody’s adapted that book. So, when that came up, I was thinking you know and Simon Kinberg says, ‘Do you have any interest in The Running Man?’ I said, ‘You know what I’ve often thought that that book is something like crying out to be adapted.’ Now that doesn’t mean that it’s easy but like it is something that we are working on, yes, I’ll say that much.”
The Running Man is set to open in theaters November 21, 2025.