The Long Walk, the first novel Stephen King wrote (but not published), will finally make its way to the big screen on September 12, 2025. Lionsgate just released the first official trailer and it’s brutal, in keeping with the book and film’s subject matter.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Stephen King spoke about the era in which he wrote the book. It was written at the peak of the Vietnam War, but King explained that he didn’t set out to write a political allegory. “You write from your times, so certainly, that was in my mind. But I never thought about it consciously,” said King. “I was writing a kind of a brutal thing. It was hopeless, and just what you write when you’re 19 years old, man. You’re full of beans and you’re full of cynicism, and that’s the way it was.”
The film stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, and Ben Wang. Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Joshua Odjick, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill also star in the adaptation.
Lionsgate describes the thriller as “an intense, chilling, and emotional thriller that challenges audiences to confront a haunting question: how far could you go?”
The Hunger Games‘ Francis Lawrence directs and JT Mollner adapted King’s story. Lawrence, Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, and Cameron MacConomy serve as producers.
