Unfortunately, it appears as though actor Dylan O’Brien’s injuries suffered on the set of Maze Runner: The Death Cure are worse than initially believed. Production shut down last month after O’Brien was pulled off a vehicle unexpectedly and then hit by another vehicle during filming. The actor suffered serious injuries, including “concussion, facial fracture, and lacerations,” and filming was halted with the intention to resume once O’Brien recovered. 20th Century Fox had set May 9th as the date that filming was to resume, but now THR reports that cast and crew have been sent home as filming has been postponed for the foreseeable future.

Per THR, a new start-date for production will depend on “O’Brien’s recovery and the ability to reassemble the large cast and crew,” with sources adding that the actor’s injuries are worse than they initially believed. The follow-up saw Wes Ball returning to the director’s chair for the third installment in the franchise, which finds O’Brien’s protagonist on a mission to find a cure for a deadly disease known as the “flare.” The first film was a solid hit, scoring $348.3 million at the worldwide box office, while last fall’s Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials fell a tad short, landing at $312.3 million worldwide. Nonetheless, Fox was committed to moving ahead with the follow-up with the creative team intact, and Death Cure went into production early this year.


This third installment in the trilogy, which itself is based on a series of novels by James Dashner, likely won’t be making its scheduled February 17, 2017 release date, but obviously the health and well-being of O’Brien is more important than rushing him back to set so the movie can stick to its timetable. It's unclear at this time how soon filming might resume, but this is a very unfortunate development and we wish O’Brien a full and speedy recovery.

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Image via 20th Century Fox
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Image via 20th Century Fox
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Image via 20th Century Fox