Zack Snyder May Already Have His Snake Plissken for the ‘Escape From New York’ Remake
John Carpenter’s dystopian classics have largely avoided the remake treatment that’s swallowed up so much of genre cinema over the past two decades, and “Escape from New York” is perhaps the most notable holdout. Attempts to revive Snake Plissken’s story have circled Hollywood since 2007, cycling through directors and stars without ever making it to a camera.
That drought finally ended this past June when Zack Snyder officially signed on to write and direct a new version of the film for StudioCanal, with John Carpenter himself attached as an executive producer. Since then, fans have been fixated on one question above all others: who gets to fill Kurt Russell’s eye patch.
Appearing on Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Snyder revealed that he may already have his actor picked for the lead role of Snake Plissken. When Horowitz asked directly whether Snyder had found his Snake, the director smiled and said, “I may.” Asked if it was someone he had worked with before, Snyder declined to elaborate, simply saying, “I’m not going to say.”
Snyder was more forthcoming about the film’s setting, confirming that the remake will take place in 1997, the same year the original story unfolds, while being told from the vantage point of 1981, the year Carpenter’s film was released. “And then the rest is pretty much ‘Escape from New York,'” Snyder said on the podcast. He also confirmed one detail fans were anxious about: Snake will still wear his signature eye patch.
While Snyder stayed tight-lipped about his actual choice, one actor has been publicly campaigning for the role for months. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has said he’s been texting and calling Snyder ever since the remake was announced, telling Horowitz on an earlier episode of the same podcast, “Don’t think I’m not texting now or calling him. I am.”
Zack Snyder has hinted he has picked someone to play Snake Plissken in his Escape from New York remake He also teased that Jeffrey Dean Morgan has been in touch with him to express interest in the project (via Josh Horowitz) https://t.co/wRJ0BmzFAw
— CoveredGeekly (@CoveredGeekly) September 18, 2026
Morgan, known for his work in “The Walking Dead” franchise and “Watchmen,” acknowledged that Snyder might be leaning toward a younger actor for Snake, but made his pitch for an older take on the character regardless. “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,” Morgan said, calling “Escape from New York” one of his “all-time favorite films.”
Morgan isn’t the first actor to be publicly linked to the role. Gerard Butler, who worked with Snyder on “300,” was previously attached to an earlier, ultimately abandoned version of the remake back in 2007. More recently, fans have floated names like Henry Cavill and Wyatt Russell online, while Frank Grillo reportedly volunteered himself in the comments of Snyder’s own Instagram announcement post back in June.
That crowded field makes Snyder’s coy confirmation all the more intriguing, especially with Morgan continuing to lobby directly and publicly for a spot in the film. Whether Snyder’s mystery pick turns out to be Morgan or someone else entirely, the director has made clear he’s not ready to reveal his hand just yet.
Who should play Snake Plissken in Zack Snyder's Escape From New York remake?
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