In a near-future United States ruled by an all-powerful media empire known as the Network, the population grapples with poverty and limited access to healthcare while being fed a steady diet of sensational game shows and reality dramas. The Network’s flagship program, The Running Man, tasks “runners” with surviving a brutal 30-day ordeal for a prize that would change their lives—if they can outlast the five relentless Hunters. The Hunters are led by the enigmatic Evan McCone [Lee Pace] and, along with ordinary citizens who cheer the hunt, scour every corner for the runners. In this world, contestants must film daily updates to prove their progress, or risk losing their earnings and facing the Network’s wrath.
Ben Richards [Glen Powell], a blue-collar worker from the slums of Co-Op City, finds himself in dire straits when he cannot afford flu medicine for his infant daughter Cathy. Blacklisted for his union activism, Ben is tempted by a life-saving offer from executive producer Dan Killian [Josh Brolin]: enter The Running Man and receive a cash advance to cover Cathy’s medicine and a safe house for his family. With little to lose, Ben signs on, and his wife Sheila [Jayme Lawson] reluctantly supports him as he heads to New York City in disguise, only to flee after the other runner Tim Jansky is killed and the first brutal chase begins. The hunt intensifies as Ben moves from the city to a tense hostel in Boston, where a firefight erupts and an explosion wipes out eight Network soldiers.
On the run, Ben temporarily finds shelter with anti-Network activist Bradley Throckmorton and his family. Still reeling from the Network’s propaganda, he records another message to expose the truth—but the Network retaliates with a deepfake that corrupts his message and shatters any chance of broad support. Jenni Laughlin [Katy M. O’Brian], another determined runner, is tragically killed, leaving Ben as the sole remaining participant and turning his pursuit into a symbol of resistance for the poor and working class. Bradley then guides Ben toward Derry, Maine, where Elton Parrakis [Michael Cera], a fellow activist, vows to help Ben reach a bunker hidden deeper in the resistance.
Ben’s journey with Elton is fraught with danger. He narrowly prevents Elton’s mother from alerting the authorities, but Elton nevertheless uses booby traps to strike back and avenge his father. The fugitives escape in a buggy loaded with explosives, only to be pursued by a Hunter on a bridge, forcing a dramatic crash into the river. Their escape continues as Ben travels north, only to discover that a land development has paved over any trace of the bunker's existence. After fending off surveillance drones, Ben hijacks a passing car and forces a wealthy driver, Amelia Williams [Emilia Jones], to help him. Amelia grasps the truth about the Network after watching deepfake broadcasts of herself and agrees to aid Ben in exposing the Network’s lies.
Together, Ben and Amelia reach an airfield and take off in a jet toward Canada, guarded by McCone and his team. Killian presses Ben to kill McCone and the other Hunters on live television in exchange for his own show, and broadcasts a chilling recording of the murder of Sheila and Cathy to drum up support. In a bold move, Ben defeats the flight crew and eliminates the remaining hunters, only to learn that McCone is a former runner who took Killian’s deal after an earlier close call. Ben eliminates McCone, sending Amelia to safety with a parachute and leaving Elton’s revolutionary pamphlets for the cause.
With McCone dead, Killian offers Ben control of his own television show, but Ben refuses. He implores viewers to hunt Killian and the Network’s executives instead, and the Network redirects the jet toward their headquarters, broadcasting a deeply fake threat to crash the aircraft. The plane is shot down, and Amelia recovers the black box to leak the uncensored recordings, revealing the Network’s deception to the world. Although Ben survives thanks to the plane’s auto-eject mechanism, he becomes the living emblem of a revolution.
In the aftermath, Ben is reunited with his family, who had been believed dead but were in fact part of the Network’s elaborate ruse. Amelia’s revelations ignite public outrage, and the Network’s grip on power begins to crumble. Ben’s actions position him as a central figure in the upheaval, and the show’s next season promises a very different kind of spectacle. As the riot rages on, Bobby Thompson [Colman Domingo], the host who once presided over The Running Man, senses the crowd’s hostility and steps away, leaving Killian to steer the network’s new order. In a climactic turn, Ben emerges from the chaos and shoots Killian, signaling the birth of a new era and the reclaiming of voices once muffled by the Network’s lies.
