'The Maze Runner 3’ to Start Production Again in February 2017

It’s been a long, difficult road to the third Maze Runner movie, The Death Cure, since lead actor Dylan O’Brien was seriously injured on-set earlier this year. But now, production is finally back on track.

The Maze Runner movies were some of the best under-the-radar YA film adaptations of the past few years; the first film was released in 2014 and the second, entitled The Scorch Trials, followed a year later. The Death Cure almost didn’t happen after O’Brien nearly died — but the lead actor, all the principal cast, and director Wes Ball, are returning with a new production re-start date in February 2017 to finish the film for a 2018 release.

OBrien’s on-set accident yielded more than just simple bumps and bruises. According to reports, the actor was strapped onto the top of a moving car and fell off the side when the car was then hit by another vehicle. O’Brien was rushed to a local hospital in Vancouver where the team was shooting after suffering a “concussion, facial fracture and lacerations.”

Fans of the series, which plumbed 1980s cinematic references like The Terminator and Raiders of the Lost Ark to create a worthy YA adaptation, were left hanging as rumors swirled that The Death Cure could be scrapped altogether.

But Deadline is reporting that production will start up again in February 2017, the month the film was originally set to hit theaters.

Production had originally been set to start up again in May 2016, but O’Brien needed more time to recover. The other factor in postponing the film for about a year was to reschedule the remaining cast and crew back onto the production after they were allowed to pursue other work following the original postponement.

Ball and O’Brien are back as well as Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Rosa Salazar, Giancarlo Esposito, and Barry Pepper.

If all goes according to plan, The Death Cure will hit theaters on January 12, 2018.