With 20th Century Fox going full speed ahead on the sequel to The Maze Runner after the first film’s successful launch at the US box office, director Wes Ball is gathering together the cast. He recently hired Aidan Gillen to play a villain in **Maze Runner: Scorch Trials **and he now has young Mud actor Jacob Lofland aboard{
With Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Kaya Scodelario and some of the other main cast from the original reprising their roles, the new film will – SPOILER WARNING – find those young men and woman on the run and fighting for survival in a world that has been devastated by solar flares and a raging virus.
Lofland will be Aris Jones, who the Gladers (O’Brien and co.) meet in the outside world. They learn of his connection to the maze and its builders: it turns out that he was the sole male in Group B, an otherwise all-female group who have been through a similar ordeal to our heroes from last time. Upping the gender balance a little, Rosa Salazar also joined the film to play Brenda, a member of that group who helps O’Brien’s Thomas when he faces a new challenge.
With T.S. Nowlin providing the script again, Ball is gearing up to shoot the sequel soon ready for a September 18 release in the States and here. The Maze Runner will be out in the UK next week. Lofland, who appeared in Sundance indie drama Little Accidents, is currently working on TV miniseries Texas Rising.