‘Maze Runner 3′ Picks up a Jahr after ‘Scorch Trials’, Says Director Wes Ball 

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials from Comic-Con, you know that the film picks up right where the first one left off. Thomas and the surviving Gladers are out of the Maze and being whisked off to safety in a helicopter and at the start of the second film, they’re hopping off that helicopter and making a mad dash for a heavily guarded facility.

Given what’s in the source material, it was possible for director Wes Ball and his team to do the same exact thing with the transition between the second and third films, but while at

 Scorch Trials press day in LA, Ball told Steve that’s not the plan for the third film, Maze Runner: The Death Cure:

“This next one will be cool because we’re gonna cut maybe a year later. Yeah, so it’ll be cool. Some things have happened off screen, which is gonna make the movie feel even bigger.”

Ball noted that he incorporated elements of the third book in the second film at Comic-Con, so that means just about anything could happen at the end of

The Scorch Trials, perhaps even something that warrants a one-year time jump. However, Ball still appreciates how seamless the transition is between the first and second movies. Check out what he told Steve when asked if he’s got any never-before-seen footage from the first or second films in his back pocket for a possible Blu-ray collector’s set:

“Oh yeah, there’s plenty. Yeah, there’s plenty of that. Who knows? Maybe. We’ll see. Actually, what would be really cool, especially the second one, what we did is we designed it so you could just butt ‘em up together. No credits, no nothing, just start the movie and go, which would be a fun way to watch and I’ve seen the movie kind of that way already. It’s really cool the way it kind of ends and then just picks back up. And that would be fun to kind of somehow string it together so it’s all one, huge six-hour saga.”

Yeah, that would be pretty cool and that makes me a little disappointed we won’t get to tack on the third film in that same way, but Ball’s already proven he knows what he’s doing so I’d like to bet he’s got a solid plan in the works for round three, which he’s in the midst of at this very moment:

“We’re working on it right now, basically. And we’re actually gonna shoot in February and then release in the next February so it’ll be another tight run.”

Ball also broke down what will make

The Death Cure stand out from the first and second films:

“We’re working on the third one right now, working to make it even better and even cooler, and doing the same thing we did on this last one where it’s a different movie. It’s gonna be a different kind of an engine, a different kind of genre almost and a different sort of color palette and terrain. It’s gonna be cool. It’s gonna be very, very cool I think.”

The shooting location isn’t set in stone yet, but Ball did tease his interest in working in Vancouver:

“Probably Vancouver. It’s gonna be a very different movie. We’re not gonna be in the same kind of setting anymore. We’re gonna go a little bit more future, do something a little gritty, a little film noir almost. It’s gonna be cool.”

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials arrives on September 18th and then the third and final film of the series, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, will hit theaters on February 17, 2017. We’ll have much more from The Scorch Trials press day for you soon but until then, watch Ball discussing The Death Cure as well as his thoughts on IMAX and about the benefits of using the Open Gate mode on the Alexa for Scorch Trials.

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Collider Movie Talk: Wes Craven Passes Away at 76

• Maze Runner • Maze Runner: The Death Cure • Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials • The Maze Runner • The Maze Runner 2 • The Maze Runner 3 • Wes Ball

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