“The Death Cure” Gets Pushed Back — What Does It Mean?

After Dylan O’Brien was injured in an accident while filming The Death Cure, production shut down to allow him time to heal.

Filming was supposed to start back up early in May, but news broke that Dylan’s injuries may be worse than anticipated, and production was shut down indefinitely. No date was given for when production would resume. (In fact, I’m pretty sure that setting a return date in the first place was part of the problem.) Now Fox has announced that The Death Cure‘s release date has been moved from February 17, 2017, to January 12, 2018.

So what does this mean? Well, it means that Dylan is considered a vital part of the franchise and that attempting to film without him would be pointless. It’s a show of how important Dylan is that they are shutting down rather than recasting (which would be ridiculous, but not unheard of). Also, it means that they don’t want to put out a rushed product. We have no idea when Dylan will be cleared to return to work, as Dylan is extremely private and his team has therefore been close-mouthed about his recovery, and I would rather they push back the release date than hurry through and do a sub-par job in order to meet the original deadline — or force Dylan to return before he’s ready.

However, pushing back the release date brings about other questions. For example, what about Stiles, the fan-favorite Teen Wolf character Dylan has portrayed for the past five years? Teen Wolf has not stopped filming despite Dylan’s inability to work, and fans are wondering what this means for Stiles. Dylan was on the set of season six at least temporarily, and a promotional trailer shows Stiles disappearing. It’s possible that his disappearance will be the main arc of the season, and when Dylan gets cleared to return to work they can film a few scenes wrapping up the storyline.

But Dylan is also rumored to have been cast, alongside Michael Keaton, in American Assassin — based on the novel by Vince Flynn. CBS Films has reportedly been after Dylan for this project for months, and it is believed that Dylan will be healed by the time filming starts this summer. But again… What about The Death Cure? What about Teen Wolf? Which project takes priority? Will we not be seeing Dylan on the press tour for the upcoming Deepwater Horizon, which is set to premiere in September?

I hope Dylan is given ample time to completely recover (and maybe a bit of time after that to just relax) because it looks like his schedule will be full for a while, and that boy just needs to sleep when he’s given the opportunity. I love that Dylan is so in-demand, and I can’t wait to see what else he can do, but I also hope that he paces himself. The last thing he needs, after such an injury, is to push himself too hard.

All I know is, no matter what roles he takes, no matter when his films come out, this girl will be buying a ticket to every single one of them.

Get well soon, Dylan. We miss you!

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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