See the Cast of ‘The Running Man’ Side-by-Side with the Original Stars

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Glen Powell as Ben Richards

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Glen Powell play the only character, Ben Richards, who remains the same among both movies and the book. In the 1987 movie, Schwarzenegger’s version of Richards is a former captain living in a dystopian world who gets arrested and recruited to appear on the government-run game show, The Running Man. Unlike the 2025 movie, the purpose of the game is to compete against other incarcerated criminals, or “runners,” to earn their freedom by surviving against killer “stalkers.” The majority of the film takes place within the confines of the game show.

Meanwhile, in the 2025 version, Powell plays a poor father desperate to get money to pay for medicine for his sick daughter. With no other options left, he finds himself appearing as a contestant on The Running Man TV show. While the show has the same general premise of “runners” and “stalkers,” Powell’s character is trying to survive against the entire world in order to get a monetary prize — not in an isolated game in exchange for his freedom.

“He becomes kind of an action hero in the movie, [but] he’s not coming to the game already a superhero, he’s a regular guy. That’s very much straight from the book and something that was very important to me in the movie. Glen was just perfect,” director Wright explained of Powell’s character to Entertainment Weekly in July.

Regardless of the different experiences in the game, both Powell and Schwarzenegger acted as Ben Richards. Ahead of becoming the new Ben Richards, Powell told PEOPLE that he was keeping Schwarzenegger involved in the role.

“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,” he said in April 2025.

Richard Dawson and Colman Domingo and Josh Brolin as show curators

In the original movie, deadly game is produced, hosted and cast by the same person — Damon Killian (Richard Dawson). Dawson, who died in 2012, acted as the orchestrator both on-stage and behind-the-scenes in the first thriller film.

However, the 2025 film sticks more to the book by splitting that one character into two separate characters. Just like in the novel, the new adaptation features Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) as the show’s conniving producer and Bobby Thompson (Colman Domingo) as the flashy host. Both characters are named after their respective characters in the novel.

Brolin described his character to EW as “a guy who basically has created this show, and runs this show, and loves to create any scenario that he can that’s going to bring more people emotionally wrapped up into the show, regardless of the consequences.”

Meanwhile, Domingo said that his hosting character is “the most famous celebrity in the world, which is why we have to make sure he shines in every way, with his diamonds and his jewelry and his expensive Jacob & Co. watch.”

Yaphet Kotto and Michael Cera as Richards’ allies

Although The Running Man is a solo deadly competition show, Richards receives help from a few people while trying to survive the game. In the 1987 film, he receives help from friends and fellow prisoners Harold Weiss (Marvin J. McIntyre) and William Laughlin (Yaphet Kotto). Both Kotto, who died in 2021 and McIntyre’s roles were created for the film version and weren’t included in the original book.

The 2025 version loosely showed the dynamic of Kotto with Richards by bringing the book’s character Elton Parrakis (Michael Cera) to life. In the movie and book, Parrakis is one of the few people who vows to help Richards instead of putting an added target on his back. Although he’s on the quieter side, Parrakis is intelligent and works with Richards to look at the game in a more critical light.

“He’s playing a character who’s in the book, Elton,” Wright told EW. “I think what he does in the movie is a little surprising, maybe from his previous performances. It was such a thrill to be with him and also just to see him and Glen Powell together. They’re a very unlikely duo that it was really fun to witness.”

Jesse Ventura and Lee Pace as the lead hunter

While Richards is the main “runner” in both films and the novel, there is also a lead hunter and stalker trying to take them down. In the 1987 version, Jesse Ventura played Captain Freedom, who is known as the greatest stalker of their time. As Richards makes it farther in the game, Captain Freedom takes it upon himself to personally defeat him in a hand-to-hand combat matchup, but Richards ultimately wins and kills him.

However, the lead hunter in the 2025 adaptation is Evan McCone (Lee Pace), who appears to be a more sinister killer constantly stalking and trying to kill Richards throughout the deadly game. Unlike the first movie’s lead stalker, McCone’s face is covered by a creepy gray mask, black sunglasses and a black beret.

Wright describes McCone as a “murderous ghost that follows Richards through the story, trying to murder him, but also trying to put on a show for the American public.”

He further explained to Empire that they put a mask covering McCone’s face, because that’s how the original novel described him.

“That’s straight out of the book,” Wright told the publication. “He’s not visible to the public on the show. He’s like The Stig of The Running Man.”