The Untold Truth Of The Maze Runner

Young Adult trilogies have been a box office staple since the early 2000s, but they have fallen to the wayside since the hit "Maze Runner" trilogy concluded in 2018. With the Dylan O'Brien and Kaya Scodelario-led series marking the conclusion of a wave of dystopian teenage movie franchises, fans are missing the likes of Thomas and Teresa on the big screen as they fight the shady WCKD organization and try to cure a pandemic. 

But just because there aren't any new films doesn't mean we can't go down memory lane to look back at the delightful (and horrifying) moments that happened both on and off the screen throughout the "Maze Runner" trilogy. Between an author cameo, terrifying on-set conditions, and a K-pop homage, the "Maze Runner" series has a slew of Easter eggs and behind-the-scenes moments that even the most discerning fans might have missed. Did you catch these details when you watched the series for the first (or 40th) time? 

Fans of the "Maze Runner" books may have noticed a familiar face at the end of the first film. In 2012, author James Dashner tweeted, "I'd love to have a cameo in the movie!!!" He later got his wish. Moviegoers who didn't read the books or follow the author may have missed it, but Dashner has a cameo at the first film's conclusion.

Instead of playing a good guy (do those even exist in this series?) Dashner plays one of Ava Paige's henchmen — an orchestrator of the Maze Trials. The author sits at the top left corner at the sleek-looking table (just to the left of a bald man) when Ava declares the Trials a success and also reveals that she "wasn't expecting as many survivors." Charming, Ava.

After the hurdles Dashner went through to get his brainchild published, it's not surprising that he wanted a little piece of the film's glory. It took the writer three years of multiple drafts and a slew of rejections before Random House published "The Maze Runner" in 2009.

The "Maze Runner" universe is chock full of creepy crawlers. However, fans might not realize that there was a genuine threat slithering out in the Glade for every prop creature like the Grievers. Sure, Grievers are creepy, but many cast members likely preferred the mechanical spiders to the real thing. And let's face it: The only Black Widow most people dig is a certain fiery red-headed Avenger.

Cue Dylan O'Brien and Thomas Brodie-Sangster's surprise when two of the deadly spiders popped out of a log they'd been filming at for hours. Brodie-Sangster must be a thrill-seeker, though, as he told Page Six, "It kind of added to the excitement." (You do you, Sangster.) He also told the outlet, "We were seeing 10 snakes a day at the beginning, and then by the end, we were still catching four a day."

The problem was significant enough to hire a professional snake wrangler to make sure the cast stayed safe — but that didn't stop one crew member from getting bitten by a baby rattlesnake. Sangster told Vulture that baby rattlesnakes "don't know how much venom to release, so they tend to release everything." Luckily, the bite wasn't serious. The actor added, "Apparently it was a dry bite — no venom. He did get rushed to the hospital, just in case, though."

When "The Maze Runner" family wasn't giving young actors on Twitter the chance of a lifetime, they were surprising fans in the most dramatic way possible. After the studio announced a New York City event titled "The Maze Runner Meet Up With James Dashner," fans were expecting a screening of the first film at the Tribeca Screening Room. But they got so much more.

Fans were promised a sneak peek of the opening scene from "The Death Cure" when they entered the small theater weeks before its release, even signing a hefty amount of legal paperwork to keep things under wraps before entering. So you can imagine fans' disappointment when the moderator announced that the film reel was damaged.

Of course, they were just trolling the fans, and the event was a secret premiere of the entire "Death Cure" film. While fans in attendance didn't get to see the cast, they were one of the first audiences in the world to see the film — even before the red carpet premiere. Many fans even got to meet Dashner after the movie. And to think, the postponed event was almost canceled entirely because of a snowstorm.

When people think of sleepovers, there are usually four walls, beds, and a few sleeping bags involved. But as badass as the "Maze Runner" characters are, the actors aren't far behind. On-set bonding before shooting consisted of an intensive boot camp that would have broken even the strongest spirits — but the cast prevailed. Not only that, but they took it 10 steps further and insisted on spending a night out in the Glade.

The Glade isn't just some set on a backlot, either. It was built in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and filled with snakes and other creepy crawlers. In an interview with Collider, Wyck Godfrey noted that he tried to convince Wes Ball from going through with the event, but the director was persistent. Godfrey said, "Then the actors came and did boot camp out here, and they were working with this ranger that was teaching them all this survivalist stuff, and at some point, they brought it up independently to [Ball]. They said, 'Can we stay out here?'"

Ball gave a resounding "yes." Luckily, the cast had tents, but they were no match for the massive thunderstorm that followed. Godfrey explained that the actors probably would have reconsidered their choice to spend the night had they known about all of the creatures. But according to cast member Thomas Brodie-Sangster, the actors were very aware of the dangers. They even had two Marines accompany them on their training and camping adventure.

Some of Kaya Scodelario's most significant life moments with her husband Benjamin Walker occurred during the trilogy's filming. Scodelario posted a photo of her diamond-clad ring finger on Instagram in December 2014 during the filming of "The Scorch Trials." Later, Scodelario and Walker had to postpone their wedding plans to promote "The Scorch Trials," although the couple eventually tied the knot in December 2015.

Scodelario announced her pregnancy in June 2016, and later posted a picture of her baby boy in December — just months before "The Death Cure" began filming. Scodelario shared how it felt to be a new mom during filming with On Demand Entertainment: "I'm fortunate to have a husband who's an amazing co-parent, and he [Walker] came out with the baby to Africa," she said. "He had his own trailer...But it's nice because he kind of just became part of our 'Maze Runner' family."

The actress revealed that Ki Hong Lee (Minho) had a daughter born about a week apart from Scodelario's son, noting that the two babies "were like little buddies" on set. Scodelario also recalled a breastfeeding story to Marie Claire where she said to O'Brien and Brodie-Sangster, "Boys, you're going to have to deal with this." Luckily, she noted, "No one was weird about it. They know me well enough to know that I would have punched them if they were." 

Although James Dashner wrote two prequels to "The Maze Runner," Wes Ball made it clear that he wouldn't take part in any more big screen spinoffs. In 2018, the director told Yahoo Entertainment that the possibility of future "Maze Runner" projects was not for him: "I'm done — I'm moving on." But you can't blame the guy given how rigorous (and dangerous) filming was.

"The Scorch Trials" background actor John McGarrah, who played a Right Arm Militia member, said, "I personally burned my hair and costume during filming, and I ended up with a lung infection from smoke inhalation — a lot of us did." However, he has no regrets: "I'd do it again in a heartbeat! I had the time of my life on that movie."

Ball may not want to direct any more "Maze Runner" films, but McGarrah is itching to work with him again, noting, "He's the best director I've ever worked for." McGarrah also praised the cast, revealing, "Dylan was awesome – they all were to the background. It wasn't one of these sets where the primaries were hustled into heated tents with huge jackets. They were all just as miserable as us." McGarrah recalled the story of Ball's daughter's teddy bear, named Poopy, which went missing (and was possibly stolen) on set. Everyone pitched in to find it, but to no avail. Maybe Poopy is the real reason Ball wants to leave his "Maze Runner" days behind. 

Dylan O'Brien hasn't been the same since his accident on the set of "The Maze Runner," but he's not the only one. Director Wes Ball was shaken to the core by this incident. "I've been overwhelmed with feelings of anger and sadness and guilt. But, ultimately I find myself left with a deep love and respect for Dylan," he wrote on Twitter (via Entertainment Weekly).

O'Brien had been in a car that was only traveling 10 miles per hour, and yet he still got hurt, which forced Ball to reconsider all the safety procedures he had been using. After O'Brien recovered, Ball told him, "I'm never going to put you on a moving vehicle. You'll be static in a parking lot," according to Yahoo Entertainment. When they re-shot the train sequence, the train was stationary the whole time; the VFX team altered it in post-production to make it seem like it was moving at breakneck speed.

Ball admitted that he took it for granted that the enthusiastic O'Brien could handle such intense shoots. Yet the one thing he didn't consider were all the factors beyond his control. From that moment forward, Ball has been extra conscious of safety. He told Yahoo, "My basic approach now is that I'll never ask anyone to do anything that I wouldn't do myself."

Dylan O'Brien as Thomas wasn't the only casting choice that almost didn't happen. It turns out that Thomas Brodie-Sangster might have ended up playing Gally instead of Newt. In an interview with Fr Conventions, the actor shared that he not only auditioned for Newt but also for Gally, because he was fascinated by both characters. Newt and Gally are basically polar opposites, so it's strange to imagine what Brodie-Sangster would have looked like as the secondary villain of "The Maze Runner" instead of Thomas' faithful ally.

In the same interview, Brodie-Sangster recalled waiting about three months for a response, so he assumed it just wasn't going to happen and began to move on. That was when his agent called to inform him that he'd gotten the part. "No call back, no meeting with the director," said Brodie-Sangster. "Just, 'You got it.'" He admitted that he wasn't even sure at first which part he had gotten, because it had been so long since the audition. His reaction was, "Great, I've got a job, but I have no idea what it is."

Eventually, Brodie-Sangster connected the dots. But even then, he wasn't necessarily jumping for joy. He explained that he usually doesn't get excited about his film projects until his first day on the set, but once he arrived at the set of "The Maze Runner" and met the crew, he couldn't wait to get started.

You would think that if an actor spent more than a year working on a movie, they would be desensitized to even the most shocking jump scares. Not Kaya Scodelario, who was caught off guard when she finally saw "The Maze Runner" in theaters. Scodelario admitted to Collider that she screamed a few times. The actress needed to remind herself, "Calm down Kaya, for god's sake, it's your movie."

What probably creeped her out the most were the Grievers. After all, it's not like the cast got a chance to see these CGI creatures while they were filming. Suffice it to say that the Grievers were a teensy bit less terrifying without special effects. Jacob Latimore described to The Hollywood Reporter what the cast members saw instead: "Little guys in blue suits and a couple tennis balls." So it's no wonder that Scodelario screamed when she saw them for the first time.

The actress told Collider precisely what made the Grievers' impact so visceral, saying, "They're not just scary, they're physically — ugh, disgusting." She added, "It's not just fear, it's a different feeling all together. That's what interested me the most about them. I could almost feel them on me and smell them." If you create a movie monster that even scares the cast members, that's when you know you've got a truly horrifying creature.

Although "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" omitted a memorable scene from the book in which the Gladers find their rescuers hanging from the ceiling, Wes Ball wanted to preserve the eerie image of dangling bodies, at least in a different form. So he came up with the idea that WCKD would suspend kids from the ceiling like they were nothing but slabs of meat and then drain fluids from their bodies in search of a cure.

This made things a little more complicated for the stunt team. It turns out there were actual actors hanging from the ceiling in special harnesses — and it wasn't very comfortable for them. In a behind-the-scenes featurette, producer Wyck Godfrey explained, "We would bring in boxes for them to stand on in between takes," but the actors would need to hang there while the camera was rolling. 

Godfrey added, "In the way in which they were hanging ... you could only do it for like, three minutes, because you would almost start to pass out because it starts to ... cut your bloodflow." As a result, this simple scene was just as dangerous as any of the more action-heavy scenes from the "Maze Runner" trilogy. According to Godfrey, "They had to play dead, and we had to make sure they could play dead without actually making them dead." Dangling, it turns out, is dangerous work.

The budget of the first movie in the "Maze Runner" trilogy was surprisingly small for a blockbuster: only $34 million. In fact, Wes Ball told Yahoo Entertainment, "The combined cost of all three movies is what most single tentpole movies cost." Yet on opening weekend, "The Maze Runner" almost made back its entire budget with a haul of $32.5 million. The film proceeded to earn 10 times its budget at the worldwide box office, bringing in more than $348 million.

Not too shabby for a movie released in the usually quiet month of September. "The Maze Runner" holds the honor of being one of the most successful September movies ever, earning a spot among the top 20 biggest September opening weekends at the domestic box office. For the sequels, 20th Century Fox continued the strategy of releasing them in a month without much competition. "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" had another September release, while "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" did what almost no self-respecting blockbuster would dare attempt: it arrived in January.

Nevertheless, this move paid off. "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" received the third-widest release of any January film, playing in a large number of theaters that would only be surpassed by "Kung Fu Panda 3" and "Dolittle." Of course, fans didn't flock to the theaters as much as the studio hoped, but the film still made it into Box Office Mojo's top 50 opening weekends for the month of January.

The scene in "The Maze Runner" where Thomas climbs the walls of the maze was tricky to shoot. It was far too time-consuming to raise and lower Dylan O'Brien between takes, so the filmmakers left him up there all day while they were shooting — sometimes for as long as eight hours. "Wes [Ball] would come over and keep me company," O'Brien recalled to Front Row Features. The director even passed up some food, which O'Brien would eat while up on the wall.

Unfortunately, they were shooting an action sequence, which meant that pieces of the ivy would often flake off and get in O'Brien's eye. The actor couldn't rub his eyes, but luckily he had somebody else to rub them for him. O'Brien told Brite and Bubbly, "Wes would just be like I got it, baby. Don't need a medic. And he'd come over, and he'd literally just take it out of my eye."

You can't help but admire a director who goes to such great lengths to ensure the comfort of his cast members, even if it means doing something awkward like sticking his finger in their eyes. "Before that, I was never someone who was comfortable having someone touch their eyeball. But now I am," O'Brien concluded. We knew that filming "The Maze Runner" was a transformative experience for O'Brien, but we never would have guessed that it changed his position on eyeball-touching.