Blade Runner Meets Hunger Games in The Maze Runner: The Death Cure

The Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the 143-minute conclusion to the three-part franchise, is now streaming on HBO Max. Wes Ball directed all three films, and this finale leans into a mix of teen uprising drama and a bleak, tech-heavy dystopia that evokes Blade Runner alongside Hunger Games–style stakes.

Production nearly faltered after Dylan O'Brien suffered a near-fatal on-set accident during The Scorch Trials, an event that threatened both the series and O'Brien's career. Based on James Dashner's novel, The Death Cure follows the Gladers as they join the Right Arm resistance to infiltrate the Last City and stop WCKD from experimenting on immune children, while Thomas confronts Teresa after her betrayal.

The film grossed $288 million worldwide, with almost 80% of that total earned internationally. Critics and audiences split over the finale: many praised its production design and spectacle, but others found the characters thinly drawn and the runtime dense, contributing to a sense of excess in its elaborate narrative and sets.

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