The Maze Runner: The Death Cure: Should We Be Prepared For Another Complete Plot Change? 

The Maze Runner: The Death Cure: Should We Be Prepared For Another Complete Plot Change?

It would seem that the third chapter in The Maze Runner series is running a bit behind. Breaking away from the consistent year-by-year normality of novel-based motion pictures, The Death Cure has passed up 2016 and is shooting for 2017. When I first heard that The Death Cure wouldn't be coming out for another year, I simply had to suspect that this upcoming film would be unlike any of the previous Maze Runner movies we've seen so far. That would explain the extra year needed for putting the project together, right? And with such a distinct gap of time (a whole empty year) to be filled with pondering, fans of the series have plenty of time to come up with their own theories as to what the next part in this story might have in store.

As a huge fan of James Dashner's bestselling series, I've finally come to accept the fact that the movies aren't anything like the books. I had hope for the second movie, The Scorch Trials (which came out in 2015) but after watching that thriller a couple times over, I decided not to expect The Death Cure to follow the book's plot page for page either. On the bright side, however, The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials may not have followed through with their original inspiration, but they were both still great movies in and of themselves. With that in mind, I think we can expect great things from The Death Cure as well.

I like to think of the first two Maze Runner movies as video fan-fiction! They're based on the same characters, the same setting, and the same situation as the books, only the films are twisted around and shook up. In the end, a story like the book is delivered, only instead of being based on the novel, it's more like inspired by the novel. That isn't a bad thing! In fact, it opens up many doors for creative theories concerning the new movie. Theories that could potentially happen because, what do you know, The Death Cure probably won't be anything like the book!

In light of the uncertainty of the third film, and because there's still no trailer released, I've come up with some theories of my own as to what I believe the first two movies have been leading up to:

Nobody is immune, so where does that leave us?

The Scorch Trials book, the movie didn't really get into the specifics of how The Flare works or how you catch it. In the book, it's a virus, it's airborne, it's an unavoidable illness; one that all the Gladers (except for one) are immune to. In the movie, however, it's an infection that occurs only if the victim has been bitten or scratched or comes in physical contact with a carrier, a Crank. And like we saw in The Scorch Trials movie, the Gladers are quite obviously not immune. Poor Winston.

So, how are they going to fix that problem? Thomas and Minho and Teresa and everyone being immune to the virus is sort of the whole plot point in the book. That's the whole reason they're so important to WICKED. So, if they're not immune, what exactly is the next movie about and what will the conflict between Thomas and WICKED be? Well, my next theory is the answer to that, the answer for which is still unknown.

The Death Cure has turned into a rescue mission. Probably.

This is when spoilers come into play. Continue reading at your own expense.

The Scorch Trials ends with everyone's favorite jerk-head, Minho getting captured by WICKED. As any other viewer who read the novel will tell you, that most certainly did not happen in the book. Why would the makers do that? Why would they completely discard the book's ending and create their own? Minho being held hostage is a game changer for the movie. The film has an entirely different plotline now because Thomas, Newt, Frypan and anyone else from the Glade cannot simply forget about Minho and move on. That's why my theory is that instead of making the Gladers immune to the virus and running from WICKED, they've made the Gladers very much vulnerable to The Flare and pursuing WICKED in order to save their friend, all the while fighting to not catch the sickness that eats your brain.

So, The Death Cure has been turned into a rescue mission. We probably won't get to see Minho again until the end whenever Thomas catches up to him, and even then, who knows what could happen to him. I certainly don't. Well, at least we still have Newt, right? Because if Minho gets taken and is maybe killed, and because the movie makers seem to be changing everything from the book, surely they won't kill Newt off too, right?

I'm sorry, I'm trying to make my laughs of self pity not sound too psychotic. It's not working much.

Signs from The Scorch Trials prove that Newt is still doomed. Sorry.

Again, major spoilers. This is your last chance to back out.

I don't know about you, but when sitting in the movie theater seeing The Scorch Trials, I spent a lot of time watching Newt and studying his scenes, decoding whether or not he would die in the movie the way he did in the book. Unfortunately, and I am truly sorry for this, all drains lead to the ocean...and Newt has been flushed.

There's one major scene in particular that stands out to me. A scene that I would put money on when saying the screenwriters had bigger intentions with Winston's death than anyone would've thought.

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In the heat of the Scorch, Winston has very obviously caught The Flare after being brutally attacked by a Crank and is slowly going insane with each passing minute. When it's clear that he can no longer go on, and it's apparent to him and the rest of the Gladers that he's going to lose his mind and literally go crazy, he decides he would rather actually die than let The Flare consume him. However, after asking Thomas to leave him behind, putting him out of his misery in the process, Thomas refuses, insisting that they find a way to save him. A way that doesn't exist.

Newt, however, who has been friends with Winston the longest, seems to understand with impossible empathy how Winston feels, how he simply cannot live the rest of however long as a Crank. So, Newt steps up for Thomas and leaves Winston a gun with one bullet; one shot which they hear echo off the canyons after they've left Winston forever.

Newt understood in a way that Thomas didn't, and he did what he knew his friend wanted, no matter how much it hurt him. Sadly, I believe that's the beginning of the end for Newt. That will surely be the very thing Newt ends up asking Thomas for, and inevitably, Thomas will have to grant Newt the one request he denied Winston.

With all those theories in mind, let's not anticipate a remake of the book's old plot but marvel in the excitement of a new one! The Death Cure may not be accurate to the novel, but if it's anything like what I imagine, if any of my theories turn out to be correct, it's going to be one epic blockbuster that is going to make up for all the sore feelings developed by book lovers. After all, they're giving themselves two whole years to make the movie flawless. I have very high expectations and I'm here to say that The Death Cure better be nothing short of amazing. I'm counting on you, shuck-faced movie makers, do not disappoint us.

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