The latest trailer for Stephen King’s “The Long Walk” has the 50 contestants struggling to find meaning for why they compete.
The film follows 50 boys from around the country who are selected (or volunteer) to compete in the annual Long Walk. The rules are simple: keep up a pace of 3 miles per hour and you’re good, slow down enough to get three warnings and you “punch your ticket” — aka, get killed. The killing happens right on the road as the rest of the contestants have to keep walking until there is only one left.
“I keep hoping that part gets easier,” Pete McVries (David Jonsson) says in Friday’s trailer after a kid is taken out. “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) responds.
The Walk takes place in a vaguely dystopian version of America. Most things are as normal as expected, but the event itself and the excitement of the game from watching fans hint at darker things happening in the country. The Walk is overseen by an intimidating man called The Major (Mark Hamill) who is both feared and adored, based on whom you ask.
“I look at each and every one of you and I see hope,” The Major says in the trailer before the game begins. “You boys are the answer. The Long Walk is the answer.”
The film stars Hoffman, Jonsson and Hamill, alongside Ben Wang, Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer and Julie Grier. It is directed by “Hunger Games” franchise alum Francis Lawrence and written by JT Mollner.
Plus, Mollner is staying in the Stephen King business after “The Long Walk.” It was recently announced that he will adapt King’s 1999 novel “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” for Lionsgate, writing and directing the project.
“The Long Walk” heads to theaters on Sept. 12.
