Zack Snyder’s take on Escape from New York will not drag Snake Plissken into the smartphone era. In an interview with Josh Horowitz on the YouTube channel Happy Sad Confused, reported by Polygon on September 18, 2026, the director gave the first real plot details of his remake of John Carpenter’s 1981 cult classic, and the short version is: expect a faithful one.
“The approach is… the movie’s going to be set in ’97… from the perspective of 1981,” Snyder said. He added that the war between the United States police force and “the criminal elements” takes place, as he put it, “I think, July 9th, 1981 – which is the release date of the original movie. And then the rest is pretty much Escape from New York.”
In other words, the new film keeps the original’s alternate-history timeline rather than updating it. Its 1997 is imagined the way audiences in 1981 pictured the near future, which points to retrofuturistic tech and a world that never quite happened.
Why stay so close to Carpenter
Snyder was blunt about his affection for the source material, calling the original “the perfect combination of kitsch and camp… that’s why I love it.” That is a notable stance from a filmmaker best known for the grim, operatic tone of his DC films, and it suggests the reboot will lean into the B-movie spirit rather than sand it down.
Still looking for Snake
The lead role is not cast. Horowitz raised the fact that Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead) has publicly shown interest in playing Plissken, and Snyder confirmed that interest, without announcing any deal. Asked whether his Snake would keep the character’s trademark eye patch, Snyder answered: “He’d better, or I’ll walk out!”
What the original is about
Carpenter’s film stars Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, a former special forces operative turned criminal. In a dystopian United States where a “400% increase in crime” has turned Manhattan into a maximum-security prison, anti-government insurgents hijack Air Force One and take the president hostage. Plissken is sent in to retrieve the commander in chief within 24 hours in exchange for clearing his name. The film’s influence reaches well beyond cinema: Hideo Kojima’s Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series, with his bandana, gruff voice and name, is clearly modeled on Plissken.
A reboot with a long history
The project is set up at StudioCanal, and it caps a remake effort that has been in development since 2007. Over the years it passed through a string of attached filmmakers, including Len Wiseman, Brett Ratner, Breck Eisner, Robert Rodriguez, and the directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, before Snyder signed on in 2026.
Snyder needs a win
The timing matters. Snyder’s latest film, The Last Photograph, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2026, and was panned by critics. The drama-thriller, written by Kurt Johnstad from a story by Snyder, stars Stuart Martin as an ex-DEA agent seeking revenge in the South American jungle. Polygon put its Rotten Tomatoes score at 20%. A return to a beloved piece of 1980s pulp, played straight and with the eye patch intact, may be exactly the reset he is looking for.
