‘Maze Runner: The Death Cure’ Movie No. 3 Gets OK; T.S. Nowlin To Write

EXCLUSIVE: With a box office take of over $340M worldwide, The Maze Runner got off to a great start last fall becoming another film franchise for 20th Century Fox. Now, with two films already under their belt, word comes that T.S. Nowlin, who co-scripted the first movie and scripted the second installment, just sealed a deal to pen a third. All are based on James Dashner’s bestselling YA series.

The first Maze Runner, which starred relative newcomers Dylan O’Brien and Ki Hong Lee, grossed over $100M domestically and $238M internationally — well enough to introduce the property and the actors to overseas audiences. With that in pocket, the studio jumped into the second film with The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, which is in post production and is scheduled to bow September 18. Wes Ball directed both and Nowlin will get sole writing credit on the second, and has an exec producer credit. The third is called The Maze Runner: The Death Cure.

There are four books in the Dashner series, the last being The Kill Order. The first film — about a boy who is has no memory that ends up in a strange world that he fights to get out of, chased all the while through a maze by robotic monsters — ended well set for a sequel. In the second film he finds himself in another unexpected reality with a government and land that is a wasteland in a fierce battle with Cranks while trying to figure out Wicked. In the third installment, the hero’s memory starts to return and he realizes that Wicked is not to be trusted.

Nowlin, repped at WME and Management 360, most recently wrote The Stand for Warner Bros. and producer Josh Boone.