Glen Powell received the full blessing of original Running Man star Arnold Schwarzenegger for the new remake

Glen Powell might be the new Running Man in Edgar Wright’s upcoming movie, but he was reluctant to take a step without getting the thumbs up from Austrian Oak and star of the original 1987 adaptation, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In an interview with People, Powell revealed he wanted to get the green light from his predecessor, who appeared in the iteration that distanced itself quite a bit from the Stephen King story it was based on. It turned out that after pulling some strings with Arnold’s son, Patrick Schwarzenegger (the star of Gen V and the latest season of The White Lotus), Powell and Wright managed to get on a call with the former winner of Running Man, who wished them well for the future.

“Arnold gave us his blessing. Patrick Schwarzenegger is a great friend of mine, and I asked Patrick if I could talk to Arnold and I hadn’t seen Arnold since we shot Expendables in Bulgaria.” Powell explained. “Arnold gave us his full blessing, and we get to give Arnold a very specific fun gift from the movie in a couple of weeks here. So I’m very excited to see him.”

The version we’ll see later this year stretches beyond an American Gladiator-like studio with sharp implements and cheesy one-liners and instead sees Powell as Ben Richards, being hunted for an entire month. This deathly chase is all to earn cash to pay for his sick daughter’s treatment. The only issue is that no one has ever survived the run, leaving Richards to fight for his survival and make it home safely. The show is broadcast on television and hosted by Bobby Thompson, played by Colman Domingo. At the same time, Josh Brolin is Dan Killian, the cold-hearted producer who’s all about the numbers and getting the action on screen, no matter how violent.

A new trailer for the film was shown at CinemaCon, and the cast was in attendance (via JoBlo). It showed Powell fighting to the death against two pilots on a plane while rolling around the cabin. Add this to the intense sprinting he’ll no doubt be doing, and it’s clear that this is Powell’s trial run to follow in the swift footsteps of Tom Cruise, who gave him some keywords of advice before filming.

We’ll see how he does when The Running Man arrives in theaters on November 7, 2025. Should you need your adrenaline pumping a little more this year, here’s our list of the most exciting movies hitting 2025.

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