Maze Runner Movies Ranked: Best to Worst

I ranked the three Maze Runner movies on three things: how well each film uses its central idea, how tightly it fills its running time, and how much it gives the ensemble to do. These are opinions, and I have hedged them where the call is close. The ranking describes how each film opens and what it leaves behind, so skip it if you have not yet seen the first film.

One thing makes the comparison fairer than usual. Wes Ball directed all three films, John Paesano composed all three scores, and Dylan O'Brien leads as Thomas throughout, with Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Newt and Ki Hong Lee as Minho. So, the differences between the films come down to script, setting and structure, not to a change of creative team. Money is context only. The worldwide grosses, according to Box Office Mojo, fall in release order, yet my ranking does not follow them. For the full numbers, see the Maze Runner box office page.

The Maze Runner 2014, directed by Wes Ball, is the best film in the series because its premise is simple and its rules are easy to state. Thomas rises in a metal lift with only his first name, and he arrives in the Glade, a farm ringed by stone walls whose gates open on a giant maze by day and shut at night. The boys have lived there for three years, and a team of runners maps the maze daily in search of an exit. Everything the film does follows from that arrangement, and the tension comes from a restless newcomer testing it.

It is also the leanest of the three at 113 minutes, and it gives the cast room to define their characters before the plot gets busy. Kaya Scodelario as Teresa Agnes, Will Poulter as Gally, Aml Ameen as Alby and Blake Cooper as Chuck all get clear moments. The production built the Glade as a physical set in St. Francisville, reportedly on a former Sam's Club stage, according to the Motion Picture Association, and the practical look suits the story. It cost $34 million and took in $348 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. In my opinion, nothing later in the series matches the claustrophobia of the Glade. You can read more about Thomas in Maze Runner.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure ranks second because it gives Thomas a task that anyone can state in a sentence: get Minho back. WCKD holds Minho captive and is using him in its search for a cure, so Thomas, Newt and Frypan go to the Last City, WCKD's heavily guarded home base. Gally, whom they thought was dead, turns up and helps them inside, and Teresa, who now works with WCKD, becomes the person the plan depends on. That is a rescue story with a clear destination, and it is the nearest the series gets to the discipline of the first film.

It is also the longest film at 143 minutes, and it could be argued that a shorter cut would have moved it closer to the top. That being said, the larger cast is used well: Walton Goggins as Lawrence and Katherine McNamara as Sonya join a returning group that includes Rosa Salazar as Brenda and Giancarlo Esposito as Jorge. It cost $62 million and grossed $288 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, the lowest of the three. For the characters who carry the rescue, see Newt in Maze Runner and Minho in Maze Runner.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ranks third because it leaves the maze behind, and the maze was the best idea the series had. The surviving Gladers are taken to a walled facility run by Janson (Aidan Gillen), who tells them they are being protected from the Cranks, people ruined by a deadly infection. Thomas soon suspects the place belongs to WCKD, and that Ava Paige is still alive, so the group flees into the Scorch, a burned and ruined desert. The film changes genre from puzzle to chase, and in my view the pieces do not join as cleanly as in the other two.

That is no verdict on the cast, who work hard. Nathalie Emmanuel, Barry Pepper, Lili Taylor and Alan Tudyk fill out a deep supporting list, and Salazar and Esposito introduce Brenda and Jorge with real energy. At 131 minutes and a $61 million budget, it grossed $312 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, which is more than The Death Cure took. Perhaps it suffers most from being a middle film, one that must move characters across a map before the finale can begin.

No fourth Maze Runner film has a confirmed release date, so the ranking stays at three. TheWrap reported on May 3, 2024 that 20th Century Studios is developing a reboot described as a continuation of the original trilogy, that Jack Paglen was in talks to write it, and that Wes Ball is attached as a producer, not as director. That report gave no release date, and no sign of filming has been reported. The latest is on the page for the new Maze Runner movie.

If you are choosing where to start, follow the Maze Runner movies in order, and find all three titles on the Maze Runner movies hub. For streaming options, see where to watch Maze Runner.