Kurt Russell's Greatest Character Officially Returns In This "The Rock Meets Children Of Men" Sequel

Published Sep 28, 2026, 11:50 AM EDT Padraig is a Senior Features Writer and has been part of Screen Rant since 2017. Padraig is a writer, editor and retired Game of Thrones extra who has been writing about movies and TV online for over a decade. He has also written for The Irish Times, Den Of Geek, Little White Lies and many more. It's pronounced Paw-rick, BTW. Kurt Russell's greatest antihero has returned in an adventure best described as The Rock meets Children of Men. The various John Carpenter and Kurt Russell movie collaborations deserve to rank alongside the best actor/director duos, such as Scorsese and De Niro or Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson. Carpenter and Russell have worked on three outright genre classics (Escape from New York, The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China), a well-received Elvis miniseries, and the diverse sequel Escape from L.A. Even the latter has grown a sizable fanbase over the past 30 years, but sadly, the odds of another John Carpenter movie featuring Russell are slim to none, as the filmmaker has all but retired. That doesn't mean the outlaw Snake Plissken himself has put down his dual revolvers and eyepatch. In fact, Snake is back for a new comic series dubbed Escape from New York: Escape from Chicago, set between the first and second films. As the title hints, this takes Snake to Chicago, which has been transformed into a giant prison, where he's tasked with sneaking a wanted woman out of the city. Escape From Chicago Gives Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken His Most Personal Mission Escape from New York: Escape from Chicago #1 is available now from indie publisher Mad Cave Studios. While there have been other Snake Plissken comics, Escape from Chicago feels like the first to truly capture Plissken's hard-edge humor and cynicism. On the surface, it should be a redemption tale for Snake, as - in his role as a coyote - he is hired to sneak a young rebel named Maya out of Chicago, who is the daughter of some old allies of Plissken's. Even so, Snake outright rejects the job, even though, as Maya points out, he does "owe" her parents due to a past betrayal. Thanks to events best left unspoiled, Snake is all but forced to accept the gig, with issue #1 setting the stage for an uneasy road trip across a post-apocalyptic America. Inside the comic itself, writer Kyle Higgins describes the setup as The Rock meets Children of Men. Before Kurt Russell was cast, the producers of Escape from New York pictured either Charles Bronson or Tommy Lee Jones in the Snake Plissken role. Escape from Chicago is also wisely switching up the franchise's rigid formula. Instead of following Snake as he tries to escape the latest mega prison he's dumped into, it will instead be a "road epic" following Plissken and Maya. Higgins is setting out to humanize Kurt Russell's antihero too, and probing whether there is still a human being buried within his griff loner exterior. That's a question the rest of the comic will be seeking to answer. The Escape From New York Remake Is Finally Moving Ahead After 20 Years In Development Hell Image via MovieStillsDB Given that there hasn't been a new instalment in the series in three decades, it's remarkable how beloved Snake Plissken remains. It's Russell's favorite character of his own, with Plissken being a post-apocalyptic gunslinger seeking only to save his own skin. To date, only Russell has played the part in live-action, but that looks set to change, as Zack Snyder is remaking Escape from New York as his next project. According to Snyder, it will still take place in 1997 and will touch on many of the same themes as Carpenter's original. Snake Plissken hasn't been cast yet, though according to Snyder on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, it sounds like he has an actor in mind. It's been a very, very long road for this Escape from New York reboot, which started life in 2007 as a star vehicle for Gerard Butler. Over the years, directors like Len Wiseman (Underworld), Robert Rodriguez and Leigh Whannell have come and gone, while Jon Bernthal, Emily Blunt and Dan Stevens have been linked to Snake. With both Escape from Chicago and Snyder's upcoming remake, it feels like the series is starting to heat up again. Still, the next movie faces a steep uphill climb to top what Carpenter and Russell achieved with the original Escape from New York. Source: Mad Cave Studios, Happy Sad Confused Release Date May 23, 1981 Runtime 99 minutes Director John Carpenter Cast Lee Van Cleef Police Commissioner Bob Hauk Writers Nick Castle, John Carpenter Producers Debra Hill, Larry Franco Sequel(s) Escape from LA Franchise(s) Escape from New York