‘The Long Walk’: ‘Hunger Games’ Director Francis Lawrence to Helm Stephen King Adaption!!

Director Francis Lawrence is known for directing action and post-apocalyptic films, but his directorial debut was the superhero horror film Constantine. Now, Lawrence is slated to return to the genre that put him on the map. In an interview with Business Insider, the director revealed that he is attached to direct The Long Walk, the long-gestating adaptation of the 1979 novel of the same name from acclaimed horror author Stephen King.

“I’m now attached to The Long Walk, the Stephen King book. Very excited about that,” Lawrence stated. The filmmaker is the latest in a long line of directors on the project going back to the 1980s. While plot details on the film adaptation are unclear, King‘s original novel depicted a post-apocalyptic United States run by a totalitarian empire. The crux of the book is the eponymous ‘long walk,’ a contest in which teenagers are forced to walk along a major East Coast highway without stopping; if a walker stops for more than 90 total seconds, they are killed. The winner of the ‘walk’ receives a major cash reward.

While development on the project has been longwinded, The Long Walk got new life in 2018 when it was announced that New Line Cinema had acquired the rights to the book. The studio tapped André Øvredal, best known for his horror film Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, to direct the film. By this past August, though, Øvredal had left the project, calling his exit “one of the big regrets in my life.” It seems that New Line has found their replacement in Lawrence — at least for the time being.

‘The Long Walk’ Is Right Up Francis Lawrence’s Alley

If there is any obvious choice to helm The Long Walk, it may be Lawrence, as he has made the blend of dystopian horror something of his trademark. Lawrence is best known for helming the final three films of the original Hunger Games trilogy. In a similar vein to The Long Walk, the series features children who are forced to fight to the death in an arena, with the winner showered with rewards. Lawrence also directed the prequel to the original trilogy, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is currently playing in theaters and has grossed more than $200 million at the worldwide box office.

Lawrence is also known for directing the spy thriller Red Sparrow, which reunited him with Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence, as well as I Am Legend. The latter starred Will Smith in a post-apocalyptic New York City following the release of a deadly virus. Sequels to both I Am Legend and Lawrence’s first film, Constantine, are currently in development. The director recently discussed the progress of the latter, saying he was “been hashing out what we think the story is going to be, and there’s more meetings of those that have to happen,” adding, “[I’m] really hoping that we get to do Constantine 2.”