The cast of Wes Ball’s The Maze Runner is almost entirely populated with teenagers, led by Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee and Will Poulter. But for the second part of the story, there will at least be one very important adult character in play. New reports have revealed that Aidan Gillen, best known for playing the duplicitous, conniving Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish on the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, is now joining The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials and will be playing the movie’s villain.
This news comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter, which notes that the newcomer will be playing Janson – the character who is familiar to readers of James Dashner’s YA trilogy as the main antagonist of the entire story. Much like his Game of Thrones persona, he also has a nickname – and, believe it or not, it’s actually just as mean: he’s also called "Rat-Man."
We only learned that The Maze Runner: Scorched Earth was happening this past Sunday (after the box office results came in), but now a few more details have been revealed about the project as well. Wes Ball, who made his directorial debut with the first movie, is set to return, as is Dylan O’Brien – who plays the lead character Thomas. It’s remains unclear if other actors will be reprising their roles as well, but we will almost surely find out sooner rather than later. With a release date that is less than a year away, production is scheduled to begin at the end of next month, meaning that the actor deals will need to be in place in the next few weeks.
In the first Maze Runner, Thomas is introduced to us as he is being introduced to The Glade – a forested area populated by teenage boys and surrounded by a giant, shifting maze filled with cyborg monsters. Stuck with no memory of who he is or how he got to this strange place, Thomas makes it his mission to not only try and find a way out of incarceration, but also discover who is responsible for incarcerating him. Of course, this is easier said than done, not only because of the threats beyond the walls, but because of his fellow prisoners.
Aidan Gillen will be back for the next season of Game of Thrones, which will being airing in April 2015, and while that role seems to keep him pretty busy, he has found some time for feature work on the side. Most recently he worked with writer/director John Michael McDonagh on the drama Calvary, which came out earlier this year.
20th Century Fox loved how well The Maze Runner did with its September release date, and they’re hoping to mirror their success by having The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials in theaters on September 18, 2015.
