“Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” is heading into a strong opening weekend. But what’s next for the cast beyond the third and final installment in the YA franchise, titled “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” set for a 2017 release?
Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario and Giancarlo Esposito are all poised to capitalize on the “Maze Runner” success with upcoming projects that prove they’re more than just “the Gladers.”
Here’s what the “Maze Runner” cast is up to in the next couple of years below.
The star of MTV’s “Teen Wolf” has emerged as a fan-girl fave as the leading man of the “Maze Runner” franchise. In July, he signed on for a sixth season of “Teen Wolf” — but he seems poised to break out into additional film roles. He’s currently filming director Peter Berg‘s “Deepwater Horizon,” in which he will star alongside Mark Wahlberg, Kate Hudson, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich and Gina Rodriguez. The film is about the oil rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded in April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history. It’s slated for release on Sept. 30, 2016 — a month that has proved to be lucky for O’Brien movies.
Kaya Scodelario
Scodelario has two upcoming film projects: the period fantasy film “The Moon and the Sun,” which is currently in postproduction and stars Pierce Brosnan, William Hurt and Benjamin Walker, and next summer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” in which she stars opposite Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Javier Bardem and Geoffrey Rush.
Ki Hong Lee
The Korean-born actor starred as Dong in Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” earlier this year, and will reprise his role when season 2 returns to the streaming service. For now, he has no other movie projects lined up.
Giancarlo Esposito
The “Breaking Bad” alum has a lot of projects coming up — actually, he has more projects lined up than any other “Maze Runner” cast member. He’s wrapped production on the drama “Stuck,” Jodie Foster‘s “Money Monster” with George Clooney, James Franco‘s “The Long Home” with Josh Hutcherson and Josh Hartnett. Don’t forget Jon Favreau‘s live-action “The Jungle Book” adaptation, in which he voices a wolf named Akela. He’s also in the cast of the upcoming Netflix series “The Get Down,” set in the Bronx in the 1970s.
Jacob Lofland
The 19-year-old will star in “The Free State of Jones” in one of the lead roles alongside Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Keri Russell when it hits theaters on March 11, 2016. He’s currently shooting the drama “North” opposite Patrick Schwarzenegger.
Rosa Salazar
Salazar, the veteran of another YA dystopian franchise, “Insurgent,” recently wrapped production on the indie thriller “Submerged,” which stars Jonathan Bennett, Talulah Riley, Tim Daly, Cody Christian and Mario Van Peebles.
Aidan Gillen
Gillen will return next year as Lord Petyr Baelish a.k.a. Littlefinger on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” In addition, he’s wrapped the Irish indie “You’re Ugly Too,” John Carney‘s musical drama “Sing Street” and the TV series “Quantum Break,” based on the Microsoft Xbox video game.