Stephen King’s The Long Walk Adds New Cast Members as Filming Begins

The Long Walk, an upcoming film based on the novel by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman), has begun production. As cameras rolled on the movie, Lionsgate announced that a number of actors have been tapped to star in it, including American Born Chinese‘s Ben Wang and Jojo Rabbit‘s Roman Griffin Davis. The movie, which is set to be directed by The Hunger Games franchise veteran Francis Lawrence, centers on a dystopian future where American teens are forced to undertake The Long Walk for the entertainment of the masses. 

“The Long Walk” is basically exactly what it sounds like — 50 teenage boys are forced to walk without resting, and are eliminated when they collapse, or their speed drops below three miles per hour. While the novel was published in 1979, it’s not difficult to see connections to The Hunger Games and the child-abuse-as-entertainment subgenre it’s part of.

Incoming cast members (first reported a Deadline) are Garrett Wareing (Ransom Canyon), Tut Nyuot (The Witcher: Blood Origin), Charlie Plummer (National Anthem), Ben Wang (American Born Chinese), Jordan Gonzalez (Pretty Little Liars: Summer School), Joshua Odjick (Welcome to Derry), and Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit). There are no character names or details about their roles at this stage.

Lawrence will direct from a script by JT Mollner (Strange Darling). Lawrence will produce the project through his company about:blank, alongside Roy Lee, Cameron MacConomy, and Steven Schneider. Meredith Wieck and Erin Jones-Wesley are overseeing the project for studio Lionsgate, and the movie is shooting in rural locations throughout Manitoba.

The Long Walk was one of four books King wrote early in his career under the Bachman pseudonym. Of the four — which include The Running Man, Rage, and Roadwork — only The Running Man has made it to the screen yet. There’s also a reinvention of that movie coming, from director Edgar Wright and star Glen Powell. 

King took Rage, which centers on a school shooting, out of print in 1997 after a mass shooting at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky. For a few years, it remained in print as part of an anthology of Richard Bachman books, but eventually, it was removed from that as well. Later in his career, King wrote two more Bachman books (1996’s The Regulators and 2007’s Blaze).

Stephen King’s website gives the following synopsis of The Long Walk: “In the near future, where America has become a police state, one hundred boys are selected to enter an annual contest where the winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life. The game is simple — maintain a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings, and you’re out — permanently.”