Barry Pepper And Lili Taylor Join "Scorch Trials"

Heat Vision reports that Barry Pepper and Lili Taylor have joined the cast of the upcoming sequel "The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" for Fox.

The recently-announced follow-up to the boffo box office hit "The Maze Runner" will be based on the second book in author James Dashner's young adult novel trilogy.

In the next installment we find out that the survivors' “escape” was anything but...soon they realize that something’s not right – Teresa goes missing and a new boy, Aris (Mud star Jacob Lofland), is put in her place. Thomas, Newt, Minho, must make their way through the Scorch, a desolate wasteland crawling with plagued humans known as Cranks, and arrive at the designated Safe Haven before time runs out.

Pepper plays Vince, a survivalist who is one of the last remaining soldiers of a legendary unit called the Right Arm. Taylor is Mary Cooper, a doctor who started a colony of survivors in the hopes of making a last stand.

Giancarlo Esposito ("Breaking Bad," "Revolution") will play Jorge, the leader of  the Cranks. The character also appears in "The Death Cure," the third book in the trilogy which is expected to be adapted as well.

Rosa Salazar ("Insurgent") will play Brenda, the lone female amongst another group of teens who ends up paired with Teen Wolf series co-star and NJ native Dylan O'Brien’s character when both end up on the run in tunnels underneath a city.

"Game of Thrones" co-star Nathalie Emmanuel will play Harriet, the leader of a group of girls who’ve escaped from another maze and that meets up with O’Brien’s group. The character also figures into the action of the third installment.

Aidan Gillen will play the villain Janson, who is also referred to as Rat-Man.

 Thomas Brodie-Sangster Will Poulter and Kaya Scodelario as well as some of the other main cast from the original are reprising their roles.

The first film's director Wes Ball is back to call action using an adapted script by T.S. Nowlin, who co-wrote the first film with Noah Oppenheim and Grant Pierce Myers.

Production is slated to begin later this month in New Mexico---The sequel will hit theaters on September 18th 2015.

Meanwhile Fox has announced a December 16th release date for the first film to bow on disc.