Stephen King reveals his only condition for the first film adaptation of his early novel, The Long Walk. Coming to theaters on September 12, the Francis Lawrence movie, based on King’s dystopian horror novel published in 1979 under the pen name Richard Bachman, stars Cooper Hoffman as Raymond, David Johnson as Peter, Ben Wang as Hank, and Mark Hamill as The Major.

In an interview with The Times, the novelist shared that his one condition for a movie adaptation of The Long Walk is to show the teenagers being sH๏τ. The Long Walk, which sees young men voluntarily participate in an annual ᴅᴇᴀᴅly contest where they walk until only one is standing, was written against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

King also criticized how superhero movies approach violence in a bloodless way that’s almost “pornographic,” stressing that gore and gruesome details are critical for the big-screen adaptation. Read King’s full comments below:

The same sort of kids that are pulled into the war machine. If you look at these superhero movies, you’ll see … some supervillain who’s destroying whole city blocks but you never see any blood. And man, that’s wrong. It’s almost, like, pornographic … I said, if you’re not going to show it, don’t bother. And so they made a pretty brutal movie.

What Stephen King’s Condition Means For Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk

King wrote this novel when he was in high school. Amid the rapidly rising body count of young American men killed in the Vietnam War, the novelist has previously talked about how he unconsciously wove what happened in real life into his dystopia, even though he didn’t intend the highly-rated The Long Walk to be a political allegory.

Widely considered to be a metaphor for the Vietnam War and the U.S. military draft, The Long Walk has been rated R for violence, gore, and disturbing scenes. In a different interview, Lawrence teased his upcoming movie as a much tougher watch in comparison to The Hunger Games. King’s comment further clarifies the difference between the adaptation and many blockbuster movies.

Our Take On Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk Adaptation

While video games and horror movies sometimes lean into gore and violence for shock value and entertainment, this will not be the case with the upcoming Stephen King adaptation. As shown in The Long Walk‘s trailer, the movie is as much a commentary on war as it is about brotherhood and trauma.

Teenagers are encouraged to join a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly game to inspire future generations, but they are unaware that the finish line is defined by the death of all, except one. The Long Walk isn’t meant to be an easy movie to watch. Serving as a metaphor for war and drafting, the gruesomeness is crucial in communicating the main theme.

It makes sense why King made this request for the movie adaptation, which will bring The Long Walk to the big screen for the first time.