BTS Return to Run BTS After 3 Years, and the Loser Has to Take a Punishment

BTS dropped a teaser for Run BTS 2.0 over the weekend, and the preview wastes no time getting to the chaos: Jung Kook is mid-sprint around a picnic setup, asking no one in particular "Why are you so fast?" before going down in a heap while the rest of the members lose it laughing.

The clip was filmed in Toronto during the North American leg of the group's ARIRANG World Tour. The seven members gather for a BTS-style picnic and revisit games they used to play as kids, including a speed-walk race and a round of "red light, green light", the stop-and-go children's game that earned global recognition through Squid Game. The nostalgic energy shifts into something more competitive once the main event arrives: a full pickleball tournament, a sport the members have talked up publicly as their current obsession.

The stakes get real when the group learns the losing side will face a punishment, though the teaser keeps the details firmly under wraps. What it does show is a court full of shouting, cheering, and genuinely reactive chaos before the footage cuts to black on a Run BTS 2.0 title card.

What the new run means

Run BTS! originally launched in 2015 and ran for 155 episodes across six years, accumulating over 140 million views before going on hiatus in 2021. The show came back briefly in April of this year alongside the release of BTS's album ARIRANG, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has remained on the chart for 27 weeks. These October episodes mark the first proper new season since that long pause.

The timing feels right. BTS just wrapped the North American dates of the ARIRANG World Tour and are heading into the South American leg, with two shows in Bogotá, Colombia, kicking things off. Catching the group in a loose, unguarded mode between major tour stops is exactly the kind of content Run BTS! built its reputation on, and the Toronto teaser suggests that energy is very much intact.

The first episode of Run BTS 2.0 premieres October 6 at 8 p.m. KST, with a second episode following on October 11 at 8 p.m. KST.