Gal Gadot stars in The Runner, a real-time London thriller directed by Kevin Macdonald that has her sprinting across the city to save her kidnapped son.
Gal Gadot is about to sprint through every borough of London while a mysterious caller threatens her son, and the first images suggest she won’t be stopping for tea.
The Runner Thriller stars Gal Gadot as a successful London lawyer whose morning routine turns into a nightmare when her young son is kidnapped. Directed by Kevin Macdonald and written by Mark Gibson, the film follows her as she receives instructions from a mysterious caller and must complete real-time missions around the city to keep her child alive. Damian Lewis also appears in an undisclosed role, sporting a Wyatt Earp-style mustache and a black double-breasted Burberry trench coat that has fans speculating wildly. Amazon MGM Studios is distributing the film, which shot across London in spring and summer 2025.
The Runner Thriller Turns London Into a Maze
The Runner Thriller was filmed in continuous locations to create the sense of one exhausting, unbroken chase. Production took over Kentish Town, Regent’s Canal in Camden, St Pancras Way, and Canary Wharf, all serving as obstacles in Gadot’s desperate race against time. Macdonald, known for tense grounded storytelling in films like The Last King of Scotland, seems perfectly suited to this real-time pressure cooker. The first images show Gadot injured and exhausted, which raises the stakes beyond standard action-hero invincibility. If you had to run across London to save your child, would you even make it past the first pub?
Damian Lewis’s mysterious character adds another layer of intrigue. Set photos show him in a severe mustache and leather gloves, looking like he stepped out of a 1970s conspiracy film. Nobody knows if he’s the villain, an ally, or something in between, and that uncertainty is exactly what makes The Runner Thriller more than just an exercise in sprinting. The film draws obvious comparisons to Run Lola Run, except where Lola got three timelines to fix her mistakes, Gadot’s character appears to have only one shot.
The Runner Thriller arrives at a crucial moment for Amazon MGM, which needs theatrical hits to justify its massive investment in the film business. If Macdonald can deliver the sustained tension these images promise, this could be the breakout original thriller that finally gets audiences talking about Amazon as a real studio.
See The Runner Thriller in theaters and watch Gal Gadot run for her life through London.
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