How Does The Maze Runner Series End? The Death Cure Ending Explained
The original Maze Runner trilogy ends with The Death Cure (2011). WICKED never finds a cure for the Flare, Thomas escapes with the Immunes through a portal into a green, safe place, and the book closes with a note from WICKED's leader, Ava Paige.
Not everyone survives. Newt and Teresa both die before the end.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Book | The Death Cure, third published book of the series |
| Published | 11 October 2011, Delacorte Press |
| Length | About 325 pages |
| Is there a cure? | No. WICKED never finds one |
| Who dies | Newt, Teresa and others |
| Where it ends | A lush safe haven reached through a transport portal |
How does the final book begin?
The Death Cure picks up right after The Scorch Trials. Thomas is kept in isolation until WICKED's assistant director, Janson, lets him out. Janson tells the surviving Gladers that most of them are immune to the Flare, but some, including Newt, are not.
WICKED offers to remove the chips that control them and give their memories back. Only Thomas, Minho and Newt refuse, because they do not trust WICKED. With help from Brenda and Jorge they escape.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens to Newt?
Newt gives Thomas a sealed note to open when the time is right. By the time Thomas reads it, Newt is losing himself to the Flare, and the note asks Thomas to end his life. Thomas shoots him, at Newt's own plea.
This is the best-known scene of the book. We cover it separately in our guide to whether Newt dies.
↑ Back to the topWhat does Thomas learn about the cure?
Thomas learns that Janson meant to use his supposed rescue of Newt to study the structure of his brain for the cure, a procedure that would have killed him. Thomas plants a device that disables WICKED's weapons, and the rebel group called the Right Arm storms the building.
He later wakes to a note from Ava Paige, the head of WICKED. She says the Trials have produced enough data, so Thomas's brain is no longer needed, and she tells him where the captured Immunes are held.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens in the final confrontation?
Thomas and his friends return to the Maze to free the Immunes. The Right Arm plans to destroy WICKED's headquarters, not capture it, and the explosions shatter the Maze and kill some of the Immunes. Teresa shows Thomas how to shut the Grievers down.
Thomas finds a back door to a transport portal and begins sending the young Immunes through it. Janson corners him, and Thomas kills Janson. Teresa, trying to prove her love, is killed by falling debris while saving Thomas.
↑ Back to the topWhere do they end up?
The Immunes escape through the portal into a lush paradise. Minho becomes their technical leader, and Thomas and Brenda begin a relationship while Thomas is still grieving. The survivors decide to stay away from the old world until everyone left in it has died.
The epilogue is narrated by Ava Paige. She says the Flare was released deliberately, as a form of population control, but could not be contained. She concludes that no cure will ever be found, so the Immunes must build a new society apart from everyone else. Her last line is that WICKED is good.
↑ Back to the topIs that the end of the series?
The story continues in time only through the prequels. The Kill Order (2012) tells how the Flare began, and The Fever Code (2016) covers the years leading up to the Maze. In the story's own timeline, The Death Cure is the last book. See our guide to the series in order for the full sequence.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Maze Runner
This guide covers the novels and the films as published and released. Page counts and reading-level scores vary by source and edition.