Last September’s The Maze Runner surprised audiences with a pretty healthy box office haul. Ready to go for two more rounds of cash cow success, 20th Century Fox almost immediately greenlit the sequels, and we now have our first look at the second entry in the series. Put on your shades, as it’s time to get a glimpse at Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials.
When we last left Thomas and the rest of his crew, they had discovered that the maze that they were trapped in was a test of survival, run by WCKD – a shadowy organization behind the maze. Well, it looks like WCKD is going to give these kids "the truth" about why the maze exists, as well as why they were made to suffer.
Taking over for the responsible adult of medium recognition duties in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is Game Of Thrones star Aidan Gillen, who plays Janson. The de facto authority figure, at least according to the trailer’s context, Janson looks like he’s ready to tell Thomas everything he (and we) wanted to know about the maze, but didn’t have the chance to ask. While Janson seems like a decent guy on the surface, ready to divulge all the information one could need to be swayed in the right direction, we can’t shake Gillen’s Littlefinger persona from our minds. Clearly, something’s not adding up.
Sure enough, it doesn’t look like the true purpose of the maze is a pretty one though, as Thomas and company escape the confines of their supposedly safe surroundings and into "The Scorch." Naturally, things aren’t as safe on the outside, as civilization has fallen to sandy shambles. How the former maze running crew will fare in an environment that’s not as lush and providing as the inside of the maze was, looks like the main narrative thrust of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, and it look even more exciting than the first film’s enigmatic premise. Considering how much of a fluke the first film’s success seemed to be, this is pretty much the essential ingredient to making Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials as much of a success as its predecessor, which made ten times its production budget in box office grosses.
With The Hunger Games series closing out as of this November, it looks like we’ll have something to hold us over once Katniss has shot her last arrow, as Maze Runner: The Death Cure is scheduled for release in the prime September slot of 2016. If the series continues to develop along this grim, yet fascinating path that Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials promises in its trailers, and if fellow cable TV baddie Giancarlo Esposito is as awesome of a casting fit as Aidan Gillen looks to be, then we’ll have no problem giving Thomas our undivided attention after the fact.
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials reveals its secrets to us all on September 18th.
