With a strong box office return and some critic support, The Maze Runner took off and became a small sensation over the past few weeks. Now the cast is getting set for the sequel, but could it be the next Hunger Games franchise?

New 'Maze Runner' Trailer Displays Impressive Scale & Fleshes Out Plot

It looks like the series will be digging from some of the best actors in TV right now as Aiden Gillen of Game of Thrones fame and Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad join the cast for the sequel, Scorch Trials.

Esposito will play Jorge, a leader of a group of survivors known as the Cranks that encounter the group of teens led by star Dylan O'Brien. The character also appears in the third book of Maze Runner trilogy, The Death Cure. Gillen is set to play the villain, Janson or Rat-Man.

The film also recently added Barry Pepper (Kill the Messenger) to the cast according to The Hollywood Reporter. Pepper will play Vince, a survivalist who is one of the last remaining soldiers of a legendary unit called the Right Arm.

While the first film didn't make an incredible amount at the box office, it did a solid job and had a good word of mouth to show some promise as the next big young adult series. But could it dethrone The Hunger Games? Possible after that franchise ends.

The sequel is coming up and unlike other series like Divergent, The Maze Runner will be doing only two more films and try to kill the trend of a two-part finale. This, and the fact that the movie could improve with its second outing, could mean that it is the next sensation to take over the rabid fandoms that will be looking for a new property after The Hunger Games.

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