Maze Runner is a North American film trilogy comprised of science fiction dystopian action adventure films based on James Dashner’s best-selling The Maze Runner novels. The Maze Runner Trilogy transports you to a dystopian world in which the whole planet has been infected by the Flare virus, which turns humans into Zombies. This trilogy follows Thomas, one of the children chosen for the experiment to discover the hormones that would cure the Flare virus.
The teen fantasy science fiction films were a box office success and spawned a sequel. Starting in 2014 with “The Maze Runner,” this trilogy is unique in that it is loaded with amazing fighting, tension, and chasing sequences that will delight you. Continue reading as I discuss each film and suggest the best Mazer Runner watch order.
Maze Runner Movies in Order at a Glance
The best and only way to watch the Maze Runner movies is in chronological order to keep up with the plot and characters. The following is a list of all Maze Runner movies, in chronological sequence of release:
- Maze Runner (2014)
- Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
- Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Maze Runner movies in order (fully explained)
1. Maze Runner (2014)
Overview
Release Date: October 10, 2014
Director: Wes Ball
Budget: $34,000,000
First movie in the Maze Runner series released in 2014 was directed by Wes Ball. Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) is the protagonist of the movie, who awakens trapped in a maze with a bunch of other youngsters. He has no recollection of the outer world save for nightmares concerning a group called WCKD (World Catastrophe Killzone Department). Thomas can only hope to discover his purpose and a way out by putting together bits of his history using clues he encounters in the maze.
Summary
A huge elevator ascends, carrying a lonely, terrified young man. After a brief period of darkness, the elevator opens and a sea of young male faces gaze down at a youngster who has no knowledge of his history or origins. All these boys retain just their names.
Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) is the newest inhabitant of The Glade, a rich, green plateau encircled by impassable walls. However, they are not your typical walls. They form the periphery of a complicated maze whose orientation and grid vary nightly.
The lads, some of whom have been there for three years, have created a system for harmonious cohabitation by separating themselves into work and skill groups and setting simple rules. One such talented group is the maze runners, who spend their days running around the labyrinth, mentally mapping its architecture to eventually find a route out.
However, Thomas’s entrance triggers a series of violent and near-fatal occurrences, including several attacks by enormous metallic monsters known as the Grievers.
Thomas is confident he can find his way out of the maze, but the delicate, delusory equilibrium of The Glade will be broken when they seek answers about their past and the forces behind their “incarceration.”
Near the end of the movie, we discover that the Gladers looked to be virus-resistant. The Gladers discover that they were subjects in an experiment examining how their brains functioned in response to the virus. At the conclusion of the film, the lady kills herself as the lab is invaded by men with military-style weaponry but disguised as mercenaries. Gally appears out of nowhere, armed with a pistol he discovered.
He insists they remain in the Maze after being stung by a Griever and then points the pistol towards Thomas, aiming to murder him in retaliation for the Glade’s devastation. Minho throws a spear at Gally, impaling him in the chest, while Chuck fires a bullet at Minho, striking him in the chest. Armed guys in masks rush in and whisk the party away in a chopper.
As they hover over the Maze, it becomes clear that it has been inserted into a huge desert landscape. The chopper eventually reaches a deserted city.
The scenario concludes with the ostensibly deceased scientists congregating in a chamber. Paige reports that the experiment was a success, with the survivors now starting Phase Two.
2. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
Overview
Release Date: September 10, 2015
Director: Wes Ball
Budget: $61,000,000
Second entry in Maze Runner film series, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, follows Thomas and his fellow Gladers as they seek information regarding the organization known as WCKD. Their quest brings them to the Scorch, a barren wasteland teeming with dangers. The Gladers, in collaboration with resistance fighters, take on WCKD’s “vastly superior” forces and reveal the organization’s plans for them all. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials released in 2015, and was a fairly successful movie at launch but received overall underwhelming critics. It brought some young actors like Thomas Brodie Sangster in the spotlight.
Summary
At the conclusion of Labyrinth Runner (2014), Thomas and a small number of adolescents successfully navigated their way out of the maze and out of the Glade. After escaping, the kids are faced with the dangers of the scorch trials and the nefarious plots of W.C.K.D., led by Dr. Ava Paige. Thomas, Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Minho, Teresa Agnes (Kaya Scodelario), Frypan, and Winston believe they are secure following Janson’s rescue, until Aris, another Janson rescuee, exposes an astonishing reality about their “haven.”
Now stranded on the outskirts of a huge desert, the Gladers make their way toward the mountains in search of The Right Arm. They locate an abandoned structure with electricity, but when they switch it on, Thomas and Minho are assaulted and pursued by some Cranks. When the cranks and mercs collide, the pursuit intensifies.
Winston keeps them off with a pistol while they search for an exit, but one of the Cranks strikes and scratches him. The others extricate him.
As daybreak approaches, the Gladers continue trekking across the sand mounds. Winston collides since he has been afflicted and the infection is fast spreading throughout his body. He desires merely to be relieved of his sorrow, not to change into a Crank. Frypan produces a gun, which Newt seizes and delivers to Winston. Winston bids his buddies farewell and they go. They all hear a single gunshot while out on a stroll.
While the others sleep, Thomas notices a civilization in the distance. When the gang continues to move, a tremendous lightning storm begins to build. Bolts of fury strike down, striking Minho but not fatally. His companions seize him and drag him into another building. They discover dozens of chained Cranks there.
Brenda (Rosa Salazar) emerges from the shadows, where she lives with a gang of survivors. She directs the Gladers toward Jorge, her leader/surrogate father figure (Giancarlo Esposito). He observes the tattoos on the Gladers’ necks and realizes they originated from a WCKD facility and are valuable. Jorge also discovers that they are on the lookout for The Right Arm.
Thus begins a sequence of escapes, pursuits, hunts, and adventures for this tiny party navigating derelict landscapes, scorching terrain, zombie assaults, and the ever-present threat of W.C.K.D. Finally, tensions rise as this core group discovers an unusual friend in flamboyant underground leader Jorge. However, the storyline loses steam again when Thomas and Jorge’s right-hand woman Brenda go on a trippy side plot.
Wes Ball returns to helm this adaptation of the second installment of James Dashner’s dystopian young adult book series, which suffers from middle film syndrome—a meandering tale with little plot and little character development. Scorch Trials, like Insurgent (the second installment in the Divergent series) and Mockingjay Part 1 (The Hunger Games series), suffer from a fate we hope will be remedied in Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the third installment.
3. Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Overview
Release Date: January 26, 2018
Director: Wes Ball
Budget: $62,000,000
The Last movie in the Maze Runner series was infamously marked with Dylan O’Brien almost dying on the set. Dylan O’Brien suffered massive and serious injuries as a consequence of being hit by a stunt car while filming a stunt scene.
The last entry in Maze Runner film series, Maze Runner: The Death Cure follows Thomas as leads his squad of freed Gladers on their final and most perilous mission yet in the Maze Runner saga’s conclusion. To save their companions, they must enter the famous Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may prove to be the most deadly maze of all. Whoever survives the maze will receive answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first entered.
Summary
The Maze Runner trilogy’s closing installment The Death Cure begins with an extravagant action scenario featuring a speeding train, tank-like jeeps, a transporting plane (dubbed a Berg), and a hanging railway carriage. The Gladers, led by Thomas, are attempting to rescue their buddy Minho, who has been kidnapped by WCKD. Why was he apprehended? Because WCKD believes the virus’s treatment will be discovered in a clutch of immune people.
After Thomas and his crew steal the wrong railway carriage, the remainder of the film is devoted to locating Minho. However, it is also about Thomas’s showdown with his old love, Teresa, about other Gladers succumbing to the Flare, and about finally taking down WCKD.
Thomas and his squad arrive at the Last City during their quest for Minho. This is the refuge of WCKD, which is surrounded by a monstrous wall that isolates them from those infected with the fatal virus.
Thomas locates Ava and fires his weapon at her. She tries to assist him but is fatally shot by Janson. He leads Thomas into a room where Teresa is getting ready to draw his blood. Teresa whacks Janson over the head and attempts to assist Thomas escape when he declares that WCKD would only heal those who are deemed suitable. Thomas then begins fighting Janson. Thomas throws a weight against a jail door that is holding two Cranks before Janson can finish them.
They erupt and begin mauling Janson to death. Teresa and Thomas attempt to climb to the top of the structure, but Thomas has been shot by Janson. Jorge, Brenda, Vince, and Gally take a jet to the summit. Teresa assists Thomas in leaping to safety. Before she can leave, the building adjacent to the institution falls in the rebellion’s pandemonium. The next building collides with WCKD, collapsing it and taking Teresa with it. Thomas sees her fall to her death with anguish.
After a while, the survivors arrive on an island, the safe haven that Ava mentioned. They transform it into their new home. Minho hands Thomas the necklace that Newt had previously given him. Inside is a letter from Newt to Thomas, reflecting on their entire struggle and expressing gratitude for his friendship, but also urging that he look after himself and everyone else.
Following that, the survivors begin carving the names of their deceased loved ones onto a rock. Thomas engraves Chuck, Newt, and Teresa’s names. The final picture shows Thomas alone on the beach, clutching the serum and gazing into the distance.
Do you have to watch Maze Runner movies in order?
All three Maze Runner movies are linked and pick up where the previous film left off. As a result, it is critical to watch Maze Runner movies in order. Although the Maze Runner series lacks prequels, there are occasions when the plot travels to the past to explain past Maze Runner events.
Will there be more Maze Runner movies?
Given the lack of information on future Maze Runner films, it is improbable that there will be further Maze Runner films. While The Maze Runner trilogy was adapted for the cinema, two further volumes in the Maze Runner book series remain unadapted: 2012’s The Kill Order and 2016’s The Fever Code.
Maze Runner Prequels
These are prequels to the main Maze Runner series, taking place 13 years before the events of the first novels. As much as we want these Maze Runner books to be made into films, the Maze Runner trilogy is a blank slate since it contains a beginning, middle, and finish. Adding additional films will undoubtedly break the schedule and may be less fascinating than the existing films.
