‘The Long Walk’ Star Garrett Wareing on His Character’s Big Surprise

Now that The Long Walk is in theaters, members of its ensemble cast are free to talk spoilers. The movie, based on Stephen King’s story, revolves around a literal death march, so it’s not surprising that not all of the stars make it to the finish line. The brutal twists come with what order they go down—and at least one other surprising nuggets shared along the way.

In a new interview with Deadline, Garrett Wareing, who plays Billy Stebbins, talked about his experiences on the film as well as what happens to his character.

Eventually, it’s revealed to the audience and Billy’s fellow walkers that he is actually the illegitimate son of the Major (Mark Hamill), the cruel overseer of the titular march. He puts up a tough front, but it becomes clear Billy has got a different level of investment in the competition than the other boys.

“His dream, his goal, is to meet his father and for [his father] to be this hero that he idolized his whole life,” Wareing told Deadline. “I think that he goes into the walk thinking that this is a necessary thing, this is a good thing. And throughout the course, he begins to see the brutality that exists along something like this. And maybe he begins to see it for what it is, not necessarily [as] what it’s pitched to [be to] these young boys in the nation.”

In the book, Stebbins comes in second place. In the movie, he’s third, a twist that allows for The Long Walk‘s poignant final moments between Ray (Cooper Hoffman) and Peter (David Jonsson)—and Peter getting his wish-fulfillment part of the prize, which is killing the Major.

There’s no happy ending for Stebbins and his father, but Wareing did tell Deadline how much he enjoyed working with Hamill. And yes, Star Wars came up.

“One of the first times I interacted with Mark in the makeup trailer, he made the brilliant connection to Star Wars by saying, ‘you know, here on page 96 (or whatever page it was), there’s a bit of an “I am your father” moment when your character reveals that the Major is his father.’ And we both laughed. It was quite fitting that Luke had now become the father and in turn, I had now become Luke speaking to Vader.”

The Long Walk is now in theaters.

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