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We hope you've caught your breath, because we've got big news for you: There's going to be a new addition to the "Maze Runner" series. Author James Dashner revealed exclusively to MTV News that a second prequel novel, the fifth in the series overall, will be published in 2016.

Titled "The Fever Code," the novel will explore the creation of the Maze, and how the Gladers all got there. After all, Thomas, Teresa and their fellow Glade-dwellers didn't choose to jump into that freight elevator and forget their pasts. Or did they?

"From the very beginning, I’ve always wanted to write a prequel about Thomas, Teresa, Newt, Minho, Alby and all the Gladers that leads up to the very moment Thomas enters the Box,” Dashner said in a release that will hit wide later today. "There are so many things hinted at that will be fun to reveal in depth. For years, fans have made it abundantly and enthusiastically clear that they want the same thing, so now seems like the perfect time to give readers the story of how the Maze began."

The "Maze Runner" series has sold more than 6.5 million copies worldwide and reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. "The Fever Code" will be published by Random House Children's Books, as were the other novels in the series.

This news, of course, comes hot on the heels of the runaway box office success of the film adaptation of "The Maze Runner," starring Dylan O'Brien. The second film in the franchise, "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials," based on the second book in Dashner's series, is set to be released on September 18, 2015.

Excited for the newest volume in "The Maze Runner" series? Let us know in the comments below.