Katy O’Brian has joined the cast of the Stephen King adaptation.
Glen Powell’s The Running Man movie is turning into a Twisters reunion. On Friday, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Katy O’Brian has been cast in the upcoming adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. The film is directed by Baby Driver and Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright and is based on King’s 1982 dystopian novel published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The film is set to enter production this November.
The Running Man is set in a dystopian world in which people can enter to appear on violent game shows that the totalitarian regime uses to control and placate the masses. One man, desperate for money for his sick daughter joins the popular show The Running Man, which sees teams of killers hunt down contestants. The longer a contestant survives and evades the killers, the more money the person makes, but the desperate man will break all the rules — and expose the show’s dark secrets. Powell is set to play the desperate man while O’Brian will play one of the contestants. The book has previously been loosely adapted into a 1987 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the titular role.
“It was so fun for me because I searched “Edgar Wright” in my email the other day, writing “Edgar.” We’ve been going back and forth on script stuff, and it’s so fun,” Powell previously said of the project. “The world that Edgar’s developed on this thing is just outrageous. It’s so good. And really, we’re just both such big fans of the Stephen King book, and it’s going to be a great character. I’m so fired up about it. But I searched my email, and I searched Edgar Wright in my email, and it came up: I had a wish list of directors that I wanted to work with in 2008 when I moved out to LA that I sent my agent at the time — and Edgar Wright is literally number one. I’m such an Edgar Wright man. And so, the fact that I get to work with him right now is just so damn cool.”
O’Brian most recently appeared with Powell in this summer’s hit movie Twisters. She has also appeared opposite Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding. As for television, O’Brian has previously appeared on The CW’s Black Lightning as well as Disney+’s The Mandalorian.
The Running Man is set to open in theaters November 21, 2025.