Zack Snyder says that Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan wants to play Snake Plissken in Escape from New York reboot: “He’s literally been hitting me up”
Morgan has acknowledged that they probably want to cast someone younger
Zack Snyder says Jeffrey Dean Morgan has been lovingly bugging him about playing Snake Plissken in his upcoming Escape from New York reboot.
"He's been literally hitting me up," Snyder said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "He's the best. I love him. He's great."
It was announced back in June that Snyder would write and direct a new version of John Carpenter's Escape From New York. The remake was announced in 2022 with Radio Silence attached to direct and Leigh Whannell set to write the script. Both parties left the project in 2024.
The 1981 sci-fi classic stars Kurt Russell as former Green Beret Snake Plissken, who is given just 24 hours to rescue the President of the United States in exchange for his release from federal prison.
"Bro, don't think I'm not texting him or calling him," Morgan, who is perhaps best known for playing Negan on The Walking Dead, said last month on another episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, "I already am. I mean, I think that Snake will probably be a little younger than I am, but you know, there's some roles in there... Grizzled Snake wouldn't be bad, by the way. It would be cool. Look, I'm going to do my due diligence and stalk him for a little bit, because that's one of my all-time favorite films."
Escape from New York does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our list of all the exciting upcoming movies in 2026 and beyond.
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Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.
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