Dylan O'Brien's Underrated Dystopian Sci-Fi Trilogy Is Leaving Netflix Soon

YA fantasy and science fiction books have been wildly successful for decades, but the genre went supernova with the publication of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in 1997. Suddenly, authors of youth-skewing novels began cranking out their own series about specially gifted kids going on epic adventures of self-discovery. When these books became runaway bestsellers, Hollywood came calling, and we've been awash in YA movie adaptations ever since.

It goes without saying that many of these film series weren't exactly classics. While the Harry Potter franchise proved to be a $7.7 billion rainmaker for Warner Bros., "The Divergent Series," based on the dystopian sci-fi novels by Veronica Roth, hemorrhaged moviegoer interest so quickly that the fourth and final movie was reconceived as a TV movie and a spinoff series. Massive book sales didn't always translate into brisk theatrical business.

But one series that managed to generate consistent interest throughout its three-film run was "The Maze Runner." Based on the dystopian sci-fi novels by James Dashner (kids just love immersing themselves in cruddy future civilizations), the first film centers on a group of kids who find themselves trapped in a labyrinth (aka the Glade) from which they must escape — which proves especially difficult, since this labyrinth has a nasty habit of shifting as our heroes move throughout it.

All three movies in the series starred Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and were directed by Wes Ball (who went on to helm "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes"). They weren't all critical darlings, but they acquired a sizable fanbase. If you're looking to give them a shot, they're currently streaming on Netflix, but you'd better get on it: They leave the service on January 9, 2026. Why are they worth watching?

If "The Maze Runner" series had one drawback during its initial theatrical run, it's that the second movie, "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials," was explicitly a bridge between the first and third installments. This film finds the Gladers (the name given to the kids who escaped the maze) braving the perilous, obstacle-laden desert expanse known as The Scorch. Even though it might be the most exciting installment in the trilogy, it left audiences hanging for three long years until "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" was released in 2018.

Aside from the expertly directed action (Ball will be a go-to studio filmmaker for years to come), the appeal of "The Maze Runner" trilogy is its terrific cast. Dylan O'Brien, who will co-star with Rachel McAdams next month in the Sam Raimi thriller "Send Help," is magnetic as Thomas, the film's amnesiac protagonist who has no idea how he wound up in the Glade. He's perfectly complemented by Kaya Scodelario as Teresa, who, we discover, was once employed by the World Catastrophe Killzone Department, which is using the teenagers as human lab rats. Scodelario is a hugely talented actor who gave a darkly funny performance as Josh Gad's sister in Alex Winter's "Adulthood."

Some complained that the 143-minute "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" was a touch distended, but most agree that it brought the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion. The series has remained so popular over the years that 20th Century Studios announced in 2024 that they're developing a reboot of sorts (though there's been no update since). While we're waiting, now is the perfect time to get lost in the Glade for the first time.