The movie adaptation of Stephen King’sThe Long Walkwill reportedly not be toned down for the big screen, staying true to the King of Horror’s bleak foray into dystopian fiction. Published in 1979 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman,The Long Walkhas been in development for decades, and is finally making it to movie theaters on Sept. 12, 2025.
The Long Walkdepicts a group of teenage boys who participate in the titular competition and must walk as long as they can, as they will be killed if they fail to keep pace; this goes on until there is only one left standing. Thus, it is certainly a dark and disturbing book, but this has not always remained the case with movies adapted from such source material.
However, whileThe Long Walkmovie is not yet officially rated, it seems to be leaning towards an R rating. At the movie’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, whereScreenRantwas in attendance,The Long Walk’s screenwriter, J.T. Mollner, talked about penning the movie to be “faithful” to its source material.Check out his comments below:
Sometimes the idea of writing for someone else can be nightmarish. This time, it was a dream. He wanted to go all the way. King wanted us to go all the way. I knew we could be honest and faithful. If this got into the hands of the wrong studio or filmmaker, it could have lost it […] it has teeth.
What This Means For The Long Walk
It Stands A Better Chance Of Telling The Story That King Wanted To
Hollywood has often rolled back on the darker tones or mature content of novels when adapting them to market their movies to a broader audience. This was notably done with theHunger Gamesfranchise, the last four installments of which were directed byThe Long Walk’s director, Francis Lawrence.
Francis Lawrence and Ben Wang did not attendThe Long Walk’s SDCC panel as they are currently filmingThe Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
While theHunger Gamesmovies are still upsetting, the crew doing an admirable job of conveying the story’s themes while adapting it for a younger fanbase,The Long Walkcan delve deeper into the horrors that are often a fundamental part of dystopian fiction.It comes at a different time in the cultural zeitgeist and is geared towards a different audience.
We can expectThe Long Walkto be an especially harsh look at the themes that are often inherent to this type of story,which will make them more impactful. Softer dystopian stories may be easier to sell, but they ultimately sometimes lose the very point of the premise.The Long Walkcould be a truly great movie by showing what a dystopia actually denotes.
Our Take On The Long Walk Being Darker Than Other Dystopian Movies
It Might Not Be For Everyone, But It Will Do Justice To Its Story
In the years since the young adult dystopian craze died down, we have seen some more adult dystopian or battle royale stories, namelyThe Handmaid’s TaleandSquid Game. Frankly,ifThe Long Walkwere toned down for its movie adaptation, I don’t think it would be able to keep up in the genre’s current market.
The Handmaid’s TaleandSquid Gamearetoo difficult to watch for some, but these series undeniably excel at deconstructing and critiquing the aspects of society they set out to tackle.The Long Walkwill hopefully be another spectacular Stephen King adaptation because it ended up with the right writer and director, who did not shy away from the hardest parts of the story.
