50 Fun Facts About Maze Runner

Who wrote The Maze Runner novels?

He grew up in Georgia and earned a master's degree in accounting before turning to fiction.

In what year was the first Maze Runner novel published?

It came out from Delacorte Press on October 6 of that year and won the Georgia Peach Book Award.

What do the boys call the walled area they live in at the centre of the maze?

The Homestead is the building inside it where they sleep, and the Box is the elevator that delivers supplies.

How often does the elevator box bring a new boy to the Glade?

Supplies come up weekly, but the new arrival is a monthly event, always with only his first name remembered.

Which two boys run the Glade when Thomas arrives?

The leader is helped by his second-in-command, and the pair keep order with a few simple rules.

What are the deadly part-metal, part-flesh creatures that roam the maze called?

A sting from one triggers 'the Changing', which brings back fragments of memory.

What name do the Gladers give to the boys who map the maze each day?

They race the walls before the doors close at night, memorising every change.

Who is the first and only girl delivered to the Glade?

She arrives clutching a note that says she is the last one ever to be sent.

What is the name of the disease that has devastated the world of The Maze Runner?

The survivors immune to it become WICKED's test subjects.

What is the name of the organisation that controls the world and runs the maze experiments in the books?

The films shorten it to WCKD, the World Catastrophe Killzone Department.

In the novel, what six-word code do the Gladers discover the maze spells out?

Chuck works out that the last word means to push a button rather than being part of the code.

In the first novel, how do the Gladers escape the maze?

Almost half of them die fighting the creatures on the way to the machine that takes the code.

Who dies saving Thomas from a knife thrown by Gally at the end of the first book?

The youngest Glader's death is one of the series' most-remembered moments in both book and film.

What is the second book of the trilogy called?

It came out in 2010, one year after the first novel and one before the third.

In the books, what are the zombie-like people driven mad by the virus called?

The infected who reach 'past the Gone' are beyond help, and the worst are locked in Crank Palaces.

In the second novel, Aris explains he was the only boy in which parallel maze experiment?

His group was all girls, mirroring Teresa's arrival as the lone girl among the Gladers.

What nickname do the boys give the organisation's scientist because of his appearance?

His real name, Janson, is revealed later; Aidan Gillen plays him in the films.

In The Death Cure novel, which of Thomas's friends is revealed not to be immune to the virus?

He later gives Thomas a note begging to be killed before the disease takes him fully.

In The Death Cure novel, the group travels to which real US city to have their control chips removed?

A former researcher named Hans performs the surgery there.

Which rebel group fighting the organisation does Gally join in the third book?

The name refers to being the 'right arm' of the resistance against the organisation.

The Kill Order, the first prequel, follows which pair of teenagers in New York City?

It is set 13 years before The Maze Runner, as the sun flares strike and the virus first spreads.

The Fever Code (2016) reveals that Thomas was originally called what before the organisation renamed him?

The prequel also shows Newt being taken as a control subject alongside his sister Lizzy.

The Maze Cutter sequel trilogy is set how many years after The Death Cure?

It began in 2022 and continued with The Godhead Complex and The Infinite Glade.

Who directed all three Maze Runner films, making his feature debut with the first?

He later directed Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

The director got the job by showing Fox an animated short with a similar tone. What was it?

The studio had originally lined up Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke for the adaptation.

Who plays Thomas in the Maze Runner films?

He was already known as Stiles Stilinski on MTV's Teen Wolf.

Before The Maze Runner, the actor who plays Thomas was best known as Stiles Stilinski on which MTV series?

He later led Love and Monsters and earned acclaim for the 2025 indie Twinless.

Which actor plays Newt in the film trilogy?

He was the boy Sam in Love Actually and later Benny Watts in The Queen's Gambit.

Which cartoon character did the actor who plays Newt voice for four seasons?

He also played Jojen Reed in Game of Thrones and Sam in Love Actually.

Ki Hong Lee, who plays Minho, is also known for playing Dong Nguyen in which Netflix sitcom?

He was born in Seoul and cast as the keeper of the Runners in April 2013.

Kaya Scodelario, the trilogy's female lead, first found fame as Effy Stonem on which British series?

She later starred in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and the alligator thriller Crawl.

Will Poulter, who plays Gally, went on to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as which character?

He appears in the first and third Maze Runner films and had won the BAFTA Rising Star Award for We're the Millers.

Who plays WCKD's Ava Paige in the films?

In the first film's ending video she appears to shoot herself, only to be revealed alive moments later.

The first Maze Runner film was shot in which US city?

The shoot ran from May to July 2013; the sequel moved to New Mexico and the third film to Vancouver and South Africa.

The first film cost about $34m. Roughly how much did it gross worldwide?

It opened at number one with $32.5 million, then the seventh-biggest September debut ever.

In the second film, Thomas and Brenda are separated from the group and Brenda is bitten by what?

The infection drives the group's search for the Right Arm and a cure.

Which actor joined the second film as Janson, the WCKD official who runs the 'safe haven'?

The Game of Thrones actor's character presents the facility as protection from the infected.

Why was Maze Runner: The Death Cure pushed back from February 2017 to January 2018?

The accident on set in Vancouver in March 2016 halted production for months.

In the third film, WCKD's heavily fortified base of operations is known as what?

Thomas, Newt and Frypan defy the Right Arm's leader Vince to go there and rescue Minho.

Which character, presumed dead after the first film, turns up alive in the Death Cure film?

He introduces the group to the rebel leader Lawrence, played by Walton Goggins.

What did the trilogy's final film gross worldwide?

The three films together earned close to $950 million.

In 2018 the series' author was dropped by his agent and publisher following what?

He said he was taking the accusations seriously and would seek counselling.

Which studio released the first Maze Runner film in September 2014?

It topped the US box office on opening weekend and was praised as better than most young-adult adaptations.

In the first film, how does Ava Paige's video message to the escaped Gladers end?

The recording explains that solar flares and the Flare virus devastated the planet, and the maze was an experiment to find a cure.

In the novel, Gally is the Keeper of which group of Gladers?

He storms out of the Gathering held to decide Thomas's fate and later returns to hurl the dagger that kills Chuck.

In the novel, what is Chuck's job in the Glade?

Sloppers handle the distasteful jobs nobody else wants; the 13-year-old was the newest Glader until Thomas arrived.

After Dylan O'Brien's injury halted The Death Cure, filming resumed in March 2017 in which city?

Principal photography had begun in Vancouver a year earlier; Walton Goggins joined as the rebel Lawrence for the restart.

Who composed the score for the first two Maze Runner films?

His 21-track soundtrack for the first film came out three days before the movie, and he was confirmed to return in November 2014.

Which director was originally attached to the film adaptation when Fox bought the rights in 2011?

Wes Ball replaced her in 2012 after impressing the studio with his animated short Ruin.

Which imprint published the original 2009 novel, with cover art by Philip Straub?

The book spent 148 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and won YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults award in 2011.