The Long Walk is a faithful adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name, even as it makes some big changes to the characters and ending. In both versions of The Long Walk, the plot focuses on a group of young men who take part in a dystopian endurance compeтιтion where the penalty for failure is death.

The Long Walk‘s cast of characters is mostly true to their book counterparts, albeit with a bit more diversity baked into the modern portrayals. However, there are some notable differences made to the cast, all building to an ending that changes the final winner and his fate (even if it retains the bleak moral core of the original story).

Garraty Has A Different Motivation Between The Book And The Movie

Garraty is the main character in both versions of The Long Walk, but has very different motivations in both versions of the story. In the film, Garraty eventually reveals to McVries that he entered the compeтιтion for a chance to reach the Major. Having seen the Major kill his father years beforehand, Garraty wants revenge.

This gives Garraty’s dogged determination a harsher edge and makes his regret upon seeing his mother all the more heartbreaking. However, it’s also a big difference from the book, where the Major doesn’t have such a direct connection to Garraty. Although both versions of Garraty lost their father to the Major’s regime, it’s much more personal in the movie.

In the book, Garraty admits his father was “squaded” and taken away by the secret. In contrast, the movie version of Garraty witnesses his father, defiant in the face of the Major, be executed in the street. As opposed to his desire for wealth in the book, this gives the movie Garraty revenge as a primary motivation.

Garraty Doesn’t Have A Girlfriend In The Movie

In the movie, Garraty’s major emotional connection outside of the long walk is his mother. She is the one who drops him off at the beginning of the race, and who he sees when the walk eventually reaches his hometown of Freeport.

While Garraty’s mother does have a minor role in the book, the more overt relationship Garraty has is with his girlfriend, Jan. Jan is the person that Garraty sees in Freeport in the book, and whom he eventually collapses into when they reach the town.

In both versions of the story, McVries is the one who saves Garraty by pulling him away. However, in the novel, it’s made clearer that Garraty has fully lost any hope of winning by that point and even intends to let himself be killed. In the movie, Garraty’s reunion with his mother is emotional but doesn’t come with that overt self-destructive element.

The Movie Cut Scramm (And Gave His Wife To Hank)

One of the more notable walkers in the book is Scramm, who is established early on as the Vegas odds-favorite to win the entire compeтιтion. Scramm also has a pregnant wife, which he initially believes will motivate him to victory. However, he develops pneumonia and ends up allowing himself to die after the others promise to provide for his family.

Scramm is cut entirely from the movie version of The Long Walk, with many elements of the character split between Hank Olson and Stebbins. Hank is the one who is given a wife back home (although the film doesn’t reveal if she’s pregnant). This reveal comes after he’s already died, although the group still vows to provide for her.

Stebbins has his physical traits amplified somewhat, taking on Scramm’s strength, speed, and endurance. He is also the one who gets sick during the walk, preventing him from actually becoming the winner. Although it’s not clear if it’s pneumonia, Stebbins ends up suffering a similar fate to the book version of Scramm.

Hank Olson’s Death Is Even More Horrifying In The Book

Hank Olson is one of the more talkative members of The Long Walk‘s cast, and in the movie, he’s one of the first characters the audience has really connected with to die. Although their deaths are fairly similar in both versions, the book takes things even further.

In both versions of the story, Olson is left almost catatonic by the walk. Eventually reaching his limit, Olson makes a scene by attacking the soldiers — getting him sH๏τ. In the movie, Olson is left on the street to bleed out instead of being put out of his misery, serving as a warning for the other walkers about potential revolts.

In the book, however, Olson initially ignores the gunsH๏τ wounds he suffers and keeps trying to move forward. This results in him being sH๏τ several more times, with Olson explicitly still walking even as his intestines are hanging out of his body. It’s only after he collapses that he dies, at which point he’s sH๏τ again to ensure he’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.

Stebbins Gets Scramm’s Final Fate Instead Of His Book Death

Stebbins has the same motivation in both versions of The Long Walk, but his fate is different. In both, Stebbins is the bastard son of the Major. Having been born out of wedlock, he’s been ignored by the military commander. Stebbins intends to win the long walk so he can use the wish to force his father to acknowledge him.

In the book, Stebbins is the last person to fall before the end of the long walk. Garraty is only walking by this point because of the dark figure he sees in the distance, the sight of which terrifies Stebbins and causes him to die of fright. It’s a sudden and unexpected demise for Stebbins, who seemed unstoppable.

By contrast, the movie changes the ending, and the dark figure is removed. Instead, Stebbins is the second-to-last person to die in the movie, eventually developing the fatal illness that took down Scramm in the book and revealing his origins before giving the others advice and allowing himself to die.

McVries Is A Lot Meaner Of A Character In The Book

Peter McVries is one of the main characters in The Long Walk, but the movie makes the character far more sympathetic than his book equivalent. In both versions of the story, McVries is snarky and quick-witted. However, his book version is far crueler in his verbal jabs, while the movie incarnation is more jovial and supportive of others.

The origins of his scar are also very different. In the movie, McVries reveals he got the scar after becoming an orphan and encountering a dangerous man, who slashed him with a knife and left him for ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. This is very different from the book, where the scar is eventually revealed to have been caused by McVries’ girlfriend, Priscilla.

Although he claims to have loved Priscilla, McVries reveals that their relationship turned sour and he tried to Sєxually ᴀssault her — prompting her to wound him with a letter opener. Removing this trait makes movie McVries far more sympathetic. The film reveals McVries doesn’t have a girlfriend, putting more emphasis on the queer subtext of the character from the book.

The Vow To Not Help One Another Gets More People Killed In The Book

In both versions of The Long Walk, the remaining contestants reluctantly agree to eventually stop helping each other. This turns out to be a short-lived promise in the movie, however, as the remaining “Musketeers” of Garraty, McVries, and Baker are quick to try to help each other when the latter starts to fade.

The vow not to help one another is more pronounced in the novel and leads to a more brutal ending for several characters. While both versions of Parker attack the soldiers and are killed, the book emphasizes that the others could have helped, but didn’t.

The cost of this self-imposed rule really hurts Abraham, one of the walkers in the book who isn’t in the film. He’s the one who suggests the group no longer help each other, and ends up suffering for it when no one gives him a shirt overnight, leading him to develop a cold and eventually fall behind.

Peter McVries Is The Winner Of The Long Walk (But Only In The Movie)

The biggest differences between The Long Walk really set in during the final stretch of the film. In both versions of the story, McVries makes it towards the end of the Long Walk but chooses to sit down and allow himself to be killed. In the book, this is where McVries dies, leaving Garraty and Stebbins as the last two.

In the film, McVries tries to do this after Stebbins has been killed. However, Garraty gets him back on his feet and saves his life — only to allow himself to be sH๏τ, ensuring that McVries can survive. In the book, it is Garraty who survives and wins the Long Walk.

Garraty’s death in the cinematic version of The Long Walk is heartwrenching, especially as McVries struggles to get him back up. This is actually more reflective of Olson’s death in the book, wherein Garraty collapsed onto him and had to be dragged away to keep walking.

The Major Dies In The Movie But Not The Book

In The Long Walk, the Major serves as an overarching antagonist who represents the broken society that the characters are trapped within. However, the movie makes the Major a much more personal target, giving Garraty (and the audience) plenty of personal reasons to want him ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.

This builds to the ending of the film, where McVries abandons his initial plans to create a haven for orphans with his wish and instead uses it to demand a gun, which he uses to kill the Major. This is a major departure from the book, where the Major isn’t killed.

While the Major appears at the end of the book to congratulate Garraty on his victory, Garraty doesn’t attack him or try to kill him. In fact, the Major seems genuinely disturbed by Garraty’s mental state, adding an additional layer of unexpected and understated humanity to a character the story has never really tried to make feel like a person.

The Long Walk’s Ambiguous Figure Is Missing From The Movie’s Ending

The Long Walk‘s final beat was changed between the two versions, giving the movie a less ambiguous and more bleakly rewarding finale. In the movie, McVries ignores the Major’s attempts to talk him down and shoots the military commander ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. In the ensuing chaos, McVries walks on into the night.

It’s a dark ending, but one that leaves McVries with a certain amount of agency and sanity. By contrast, the book’s ending is far more grim. Garraty has lost his sanity by the book’s end, seeing a mysterious dark figure beckoning him forward. This propels him to victory, but compels him to keep walking ever after he won.

In essence, Garraty keeps walking in the book’s ending, another soul lost to the long walk. In the movie, McVries is left shattered by his experience but takes charge in a compelling way. It gives both versions of The Long Walk a thematically rich ending, but with a key difference in the exact nature of their bleak finales.