Prior to last year, Mark Hamill had what could be referred to as minimal experience in the realm of Stephen King movies. In 1992, he had an uncredited role in director Mick Garris' Sleepwalkers (based on an original screenplay by King), and that was the full extent of his connection to the author. In 2023, that connection expanded when Hamill signed on to star in writer/director Mike Flanagan's upcoming adaptation of The Life Of Chuck, and now he seems to be on a King streak, as it has been announced that he is set to star in the new film The Long Walk.
Directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes) and written by JT Mollner (the upcoming horror movie Strange Darling), The Long Walk began production earlier this week in Manitoba, Canada, and in addition to adding Mark Hamill to the cast, the film has also added Judy Greer. We don't officially know who the actors will be playing, but given that there aren't many adult characters in the book, it doesn't feel difficult to speculate that Greer is playing Mrs. Garraty (the mother of protagonist Ray Garraty) and Hamill will portray The Major – the principal antagonist who oversees the titular dystopian competition.
Based on the book of the same name, which was originally published by Stephen King under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, the story follows a collection of teenage boys who have agreed to participate in The Long Walk: a deadly endurance competition that sees the last competitor left standing win a dream prize. Once the "game" starts, the teens must maintain a constant walking pace along a highway and there are no breaks; warnings are issued for slowing down or stopping, and collecting three warnings (or trying to escape) results in execution.
Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson were the first two actors to sign on to star in The Long Walk, but the cast has filled out significantly since their involvement was announced in June. In addition to Mark Hamill and Judy Greer, the film is also set to feature Jojo Rabbit’s Roman Griffin Davis, Spontaneous’ Charlie Plummer, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Ben Wang, Jordan Gonzalez, and Joshua Odjick (as reported in this week's edition of The King Beat).
In addition to his upcoming Stephen King movies, Mark Hamill has recently been doing a number of voice roles – including reprising his role as The Joker in Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part Three and playing a character named Thorn in the upcoming animated film The Wild Robot (which will be in theaters on September 27).
For Judy Greer, this will be her second Stephen King adaptation, as she previously played gym teacher Ms. Desjardin in the 2013 remake of Carrie. In addition to The Long Walk, the actress' upcoming slate includes the family friendly holiday comedy The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (set for release on November 8).
Previous attempted adaptations of The Long Walk spent years in development hell (George A. Romero first tried to make it into a movie back in the late 1980s), but now the project is set up at Lionsgate and is becoming a reality. The movie doesn't yet have a release date, but stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest updates about the Stephen King project.
