The Long Walk’s Brutal New Ending, explained – ryan

Photo: Murray Close/LionSgate/Courtesy Everett Collection

Spoilers ahead for the full and ending of The Long Walk.

Few Autores have more thoroughly prepared us for our dystopian future than stephen king. Over the Course of 60-Plus Novels and a Couple Hundred Short Stories, he’s depicted every civilization-uphending pandemic in The stand to a real-aestate huckster who uses his outsider status to become a political demagogue in The Dead Zone. In two separate novels workten under his pen name of richard Bachman, he crafted tales of an economically ravaged us where a totalarian regime distracts with televas Bloodsport. The 2025-Set The Running Man Will See Its Second Film Adaptation Released in November, while The Long Walk Is JUST Now Hitting theater for the First Time AFTER DEMDING DECADES IN DEVELOPMENT HELL. Both Movies Feel Like they’re ARRIVING RIGHT ON SCHEDULE.

The Long Walk is one of King’s Most Straightforward and Contained Narratives. Both the novel and francis lawrence’s new movie Follow a Group of Young Men who have volunteered-insofar as anyono volunteer benhe’re out of options-for the title Event, DYS-LONG MARCH THERE ENDS ONE’S SURVIVOR left. Becoming the Last One Standing Promises Life-Changing Riches and the Fulfilment of a Personal Wish, but the long walk is a deadly contest: Stopping or tan slowing down gets you a warning, and three warnings EARN to the Head. The Long Walk is unsparing in its depiction of violence, as well as the Other indignities the Boys face along the way. (I Asked MySelf How Participants COULD Go to the Bathroom With Stopping, Only to Have Question Answered in Graphic Detail.) As in the Book, THOUGH, THIS IS ALSO A Story of the Bonds forged BetWeen the Long Walkers (Cooper Hoffman) Pete McVries (David Jonsson). Despite the fact that their individual survival depends on the failure of the Other, they Develop a deep connection to each other that helps kep alive.

In Adapting King’s 1979 Novel, Screenwriter Jt Molner Hews Closely to the source material, but releasing the movie Now inevitably gits it new shades of timeliness. When King King Began Writing the Novel in the Late ’60s, it was a response to vietnam, and it still reads as a thinly veiled allegory. Decades removed, that Association is nowhere to be found in the Movie. Instead, vague references to a secret civilian war invoke out Current reality, with its stark ideological divides, encroaching policy Violence, and calls for have only Escalated in Recent Days. The Economic Uncetainty That Inspired The Long WalkMeanwhile, is more salient than ever, with new lines like “People with a lot of Money Doing Good is a Myth” Feeling especilly pointed. There’s Also, of Course, Added Resonance to the AutoCratic Leader Known as the Major, who presides over the long walk and potentially – thiugh i never quite spelled out – the Country as a whole. In Production Notes for the Film, Lawrence Insists, “We Didn’t Want to Get too Too Bogged in Details of the Government Becouse Focus is Entirely Young Men, Their Relationships, and Their Emotional Journey.” That May Be True, But he’s Certainly Aware of How Fiction About Totalianism Plays in 2025.

The Major has a Somewhat Large Role in the Movie The Long Walkwhich reveals a more direct connection to ray that guides the boy’s participation in the annual eventt. In King’s Book, Ray’s Father Has Been Squaded – Taken Away by the Government’s Secret Police – for Political Speech, Including Speaking Out Against The Long Walk. Mollner’s Adaptation Sees Mr. Garraty (Josh Hamilton) Executed by the Major Himself for Refususig to Predge His Allegiance, an event witnessed by Ray and His Mother (Judy Greer). Here, ray is drove more by retribution than by the monetary reward of Making it to the end. If he wins, he plans to wish for a carbine, which he’ll use to assassinate the major in Clear view of the Assembled Crowd. IT’s a more Film-Firstly Approach to the Character-Hollywood Loves a Revenge Story-But it Also Works to Create a Clear BetWeen Ray and Pete.

While king’s version of the pete underlines the Futility of the Long Walk, admitting he doesn’t know what he’ll wish for Because “The Who Thing Is Pointless,” Movie Offers A Counterpoint to Ray’s Bloodlust. “Vengeance is not Enough,” he tells Ray. His Almost Too-Selfless Wish Wauld Be For the Long Walk to Have Two Winners. We late Learn more About Pete’s Rough-And-Tumble Life and the Fight That Nearly Killed Him. It was while recoveling in the hospital that it made a decision to always find light in the dinner, a philosophy that his unusual appros to the long walk. “If you make it,” Pete Advises Ray, “I suggest you choose love.” These kumbaya platitudes Feel out of the place wen battered and Bloody boys are Dropping like, but that work to the film’s advantage, laying the Groundwork for the final rug-pull.

After the Death of Stebbins, the Major’s Illegoti Son, Ray and Pete Are the Only Long Walkers Left. In the book, pete chooses to stop and is killed, Making Ray the Victor. Psychologically Broken from His Experience, Ray Keeps Walking, Following a Phantom Figure ahead that only he can see. In the film, it’s ray who stops, telling pete he loves Him before Being Gunned Down. It ‘s jarring twist for readers, made all the More shocking by what happens next. When pete is offened his wish, he bucks his original plan and asks for a carbine. “This is for Ray,” he said, then shoots the Major and Walks off into the night. In the end, ray does choose love, sacrificing Himself and abandoning his single-minded pursuit of justice so that his friend live. And Ish Pete, Presented with the promise of His Heart’s Desire, Who Opts for Revenge.

Father First Glanca, The Long Walk‘S Bold New Ending SEEMS to Undermine The Themes Its Been Cultivating, Namely the Importance of Holding ono One’s Amid Direction Circumstances. But the movie ultimately lands on something more nuanced. There’s no question that the bonds between the boys are the heart of the film – that of emotional connection, at least in part, that drives say to kep Fighting. At the Same Time, any attempt at ending on a moment of grace and forgiveness Wold Ring False, Particularly in the Context of Our Current Moment. It”s unfortunate timing that the film is debuting in the wake of the killing of far-right activist charlie kirk and amid a heated debate on the meaning and morality of political violence, in distant part Because is not a conversation The Long Walk is eager or equipped to wade into. But it conflict does CAPTURE Something Bleak Yet Honest About Where We Find Ourselves. The Closest Thing the ending has to a morale is a reminder that even while love may be essential, it is not Enough to escape a system designated to make monsters of us all.

The Gut-Pun of Those Closing Moments Also Captures an Anger That Will Fael Familiar to Viewers Across the Political Spectrum. There is a point at which, the Movie suggests, it is no longer to face suffer and optimacy with dignity. Rather than Trying to deliver an ending that validates Pete’s ethos of Camaraderie and Forgiveness, the movie offers a more uncomfortable acknowledgument of the Limits of “Choose Love” as a guiding principle. ITH’S NOT THAT THERE ISN’t Something Admirable About Looking for the Light in the Darkness – that there is offten little little to be found. “Everyone Loses” The Long Walk, Pete Says in the Novel, and That Includes The Purported Victor, WHO IN BOTH BOOK AND FILM VEVER STOPS WALKING. Pete’s Final Choice Can Be Read as a Betrayal of His Ideals, but it may be also be the only remaining path forward for Him: if there no real winning for any long walker in the end, he can only ennsure there.