Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Dexter Darden, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster Say Goodbye to the "Maze Runner" Franchise

One last farewell message from the stars of The Death Cure.
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Photo: Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox

By now, eager fans who lined up at midnight to say goodbye to Thomas, Newt, Frypan, Teresa, and the rest of the Gladers know what happens in Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the last of a trilogy. It's been a long time coming — since the first film debuted in 2014, the series of movies based on the books by James Dashner have only grown in scale and interest. After all, YA novels turned movie franchises aren't uncommon, but a film that doesn't rest on its sci-fi laurels and delivers nonstop action to its devoted following is special. Add to that the challenge of staying true to the source material but still keeping viewers guessing — and wanting more — and you've got a fair amount of pressure. Does The Death Cure deliver? Dylan O'Brien has a simple solve for learning the answer: Watch the fan reaction videos on YouTube.

The early reactions weren't yet available when Teen Vogue sat down with Dylan and costars Kaya Scodelario, Dexter Darden, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster to discuss the last tribute to the Maze Runner devotees (so you've been warned now: spoilers ahead). But if the stars' excitement is any indication, you're in for the ride of your life. As it turns out, there were even a few surprises in store for the actors, who have grown with their characters over the course of five years and three movies. From the little things, like Thomas's new boots, to bigger lessons about loyalty and ambition, The Death Cure is their thank-you to the fans who have stuck with them through the highs and lows of creating not just a few movies, but an entire post-apocalyptic world — oh yeah, and more than a few friendships along the way.

Photo: Jerritt Clark/Getty Images

Teen Vogue: So, it's here: the last Maze Runner movie. How does it feel?

Dylan O’Brien: Like nothing. I don't feel, in general. Watch, stab my hand. [Laughs] Man, we're killing it so far... Dex?

Dexter Darden: It feels great. We filmed this journey now for five years so all of us coming together and being able to end the chapter like this feels amazing. It's very rare you get an experience like this when you're in this industry. I feel like we're constantly thankful for it. I feel like the luckiest dude ever. We're all so lucky to have gotten this opportunity and have this experience and get to know one another, get to have these three movies that we're all genuinely proud of.

TV: Did making the movie feel different, knowing that this was the last one?

Kaya Scodelario: It still doesn't feel like the last one to me, still now. I think it will literally be when we've done the last premiere and we're all going on different planes that it will actually hit me that it's done. But we'll see each other again in a couple months.

DD: We see each other so often. It's kinda been a continuous momentum of love and energy for the past five years so I don't know if it really feels like it's the last one. But I think maybe going on the carpet and watching the screening...

TV: What is the experience of seeing the movie on-screen like, given that there are so many special effects and stunts added after filming?

KS: I think we're lucky with Wes [Ball, the director] where he makes sure that when we go on set, we kind of know what he's going to build. And sometimes he's even drawn something out or he can explain it in two seconds because he can see it in his mind. And that's really useful. I think, especially for me because I've never worked with green screen or anything like that before and I was terrified of it. He really helped me know what the final product would then end up looking [like]. He would literally shout, "There's a building collapsing on you!"

DD: And he works very hard to have set pieces — especially for the maze in the first [movie]. We had doors that moved and all those kinds of things.

KS: The moving doors were cool.

DO: It is one of the funnest parts about seeing the final product. Especially in this third one too, I feel like the scope is so big in this one. I mean it's an entire city that gets all fleshed out in post and we don't see it for so long ... There's so many things in this one that I was really amazed by seeing how they filled it all out. Big, big boats.

TV: Given that the movies are based on books, fans have an idea of what to expect. But they still want to be surprised. What do you think they'll be surprised by when they see the movie?

KS: [Deadpans] We all die.

DO: All the carnage, sheer carnage.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster: I just ask that book lovers and movie goers in general who go in with an open mind, put aside the fact that books are books and what makes them special is very different than what makes film special, in its own way. They are two very different mediums that require different approaches.

We've taken what's true about the books and flipped it and turned it to suit movie-making but still holding onto the feel of the movies that we've created so far leading up to it. It still very much feels like a Maze Runner movie but we're doing our own kind of thing with it, as we have done with the first two even. I urge people to go there with an open mind and hopefully enjoy the cinematic experience.

TV: Do you check the Twitter reactions as people see the movie at midnight and get into your comments?

KS: I'm honestly scared of it. [To Dexter] You do that, right? You know what they're saying.

DD: You get flooded with tweets and Instagram posts. The Maze Runner fandom is definitely a thing. They love the books and they love the characters and they love the movies. Like Thomas said, try to go with differentiating the two. But the fans are so supportive and they've done nothing but show love for these movies and we hope that it continues for the third one.

DO: I remember seeing some of the trailer reactions [on YouTube], those were super funny. I watched one that Wes, I think, retweeted or something. And then it led me on this train of watching a bunch of them because they were cracking me up.

DD: There's a compilation, yeah.

TV: The videos of people recording themselves watching... ?

DO: Watching the trailer, yeah, which I've always found odd. But it was really funny to watch actually, especially when you can tell it's such genuine reactions, that's when it's good.

MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE, from left, Katherine McNamara, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jacob Lofland, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Dylan O’Brien, Rosa Salazar, Dexter Darden, 2018. ph: Joe Alblas. TM and copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved/courtesy Everett Collection.Photo: Joe Alblas. TM and copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved/courtesy Everett Collection.

TV: Kaya and Thomas, you both get a very final goodbye in that your characters die — it's not a fade-to-black. What was that like?

DD: [Joking] What are you talking about? No they don't.

TV: Sorry, spoiled it.

DO: Goes against everything we ...

KS: It's cool. I don't think I've ever died on-screen before. I think it's my first time.

DD: Thomas, I think you've died in everything I've ever seen you in.

TBS: Yeah, I get stabbed all the time.

KS: I thought it was really cool. It was also, for me, a bit of a stunt, which is cool. Since having my baby, I was really nervous about whether I'd feel brave enough to do stuff like that anymore and I'm really glad I did, kinda overcame the fear of that. Getting to do a full drop, it was cool for me. [But] it looks so great, it was so well-coordinated. Does it look good in the film?

DO: The fire and your face... The fact that you're still able to [be] in the scene while doing that is amazing.

KS: But it's also, I think from a character point of view, a really nice way to tie it up. [Otherwise] you think, "Oh God, are they going to do another one? Is that why they're still here?" I really like that with Teresa, there is such a birth, a middle, and an ending to her. I really like that.

TV: The action and stunts in this movie are really nonstop. What was it like to prepare for that?

DD: We worked with an amazing crew and stunt coordinator who's done everything from Mad Max to Suicide Squad and so forth and so on. He made sure that we were all very safe and very aware, knowing what we do and how we do it. Stunts are always a big fun part about it. You wanna make sure you can have fun and do it safely. When you're running from explosions, you want to make sure you know where everything is going to be so you can still do your job to the best of your ability. And also be able to make it look good. Stunts and action are a part of what Maze Runner is and it's [something] Wes loves so much. What we kinda wanted to do with the third one is keep that energy and make sure everybody's on the edge of their seats.

TV: I feel like you guys deserve, like, a movie filmed from a couch after this. Film a reaction video, call that a movie.

DD: Exactly. And with the death scenes too, we were talking about that earlier. We've lost so many people along the way in the movies. It's so fun shooting with friends. I remember when Winston died in [Scorch Trials], it was hard for us because we wanted [Alexander Flores] to stay and be there for shooting.

DO: And we made him!

DD: We made him stay for another month, literally through Thanksgiving and hung out at the hotel.

KS: You're right though, that was really sad. I remember him dying in the scene and being like, "Oh sh*t, you OK man, you good?"

DD: Yeah, real tears...You know, we made Wes a little deal and actually were kinda like, "These two people can't die until the last week so that we know we'll be able to"-

DO: Oh, in this one? Yeah, we said, "That's so early, Wes, they have to be there the whole time." In case something happens in the first two weeks.

DD: Because then it's like losing a family member.

TV: I feel like the first death in this movie came pretty late in the game. I was like, "Wait a second, nobody's died yet, this feels..."

DO: And then it's an onslaught. It was carnage.

TV: If you could go back in time and talk to yourself as you're starting this series, what advice would you give yourself?

KS: To enjoy that first summer, every single second of it, because nothing will ever be like that again. I wish I could relive that summer so bad.

TBS: What, Maze Runner 1?

KS: Yeah, Louisiana. Probably the happiest time of my life. I'd take more pictures, for us. Because we didn't have a lot of personal pictures of it.

DO: I feel like we were so in the moment. We all soaked that time up, I feel like, as much as you can. All the memories that we do have, all the little classic pictures and videos, we all cherish so much.

DD: That's exactly right. When you start a movie five years ago and you end up creating the family that we've created... Just to go back and enjoy it and to live it again and to be able to really soak up the moment. Because I think we all did, which is why we're so close.

KS: It's like we were falling in love with each other, it was so weird. Like, "This is cool, yeah I like you." And it grew and grew and grew.

DD: And even in Death Cure — and in Scorch — it continued. Things like making Alex stay a whole other month after he died or...being in South Africa together — you travel and create family — [it] creates a big part of what the movies are.

TV: Is there anything you learned about your characters that surprised you, through filming the third movie?

MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE, from left, Kaya Scodelario, Patricia Clarkson, 2018. TM and copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved/courtesy Everett Collection.Photo: TM and copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved/courtesy Everett Collection.

KS: I like that Wes had this great idea that Teresa should start dressing a little bit like Ava Paige. I thought that was interesting because at first, I was like, "No, she has to be completely independent. She's always about her journey and her mission and why would she suddenly want to dress like this woman?" And the more we discussed it, I found it really interesting that we add that layer of vulnerability to her, that she's still a young woman who's ambitious and maybe she doesn't even notice that she's starting to wear heels and her hair up. That's such an honest vulnerability of hers that she can be insanely tough and focus but at the same time, there's a part of her that wants to fit in and wants to be taken seriously in that world.

TBS: I think he was a little bit more sensitive than I first thought he was. In the first movie, it was kind of a bit of a light relief and the easygoing character, [he] has control but it's done quite through a friendly manner. He's a good friend but I think he's kinda hurting inside.

DD: That was deep.

DO: Thomas got new shoes. [Laughs] I noticed my boots were different, I was like, "Cool."

TV: I feel like he deserves that development.

DO: Oh definitely, after what he's been through. Yeah, they were actually a lot more comfortable.

KS: I remember the day you were like, "Guys, these boots are so much better. We can run."

DO: It was amazing.

DD: Loyalty, for me. I think staying loyal to Thomas and following that brotherhood. I think you can see that a little bit in the third movie too, how we've come so far from the Glade.

TV: Do you guys have one favorite memory from filming this movie?

DO: We always get asked this and then we come up with these lame answers and we can't even remember. We have so many memories, we have so many stories.

KS: And then we go hang out and we're like, "That time was amazing."

DD: "We should bring this up." But I think that's kind of the culmination of it too, being together and creating this family. This bond is my favorite to be honest.

KS: Didn't we have a read-through this time?

DO: No. It was when we were talking-about-script through.

KS: Oh yeah, we went and sat in the room and f*cked about for a couple of hours.

DD: What a laugh.

DO: And then Wes...did the whole other thing.

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DD: The boat was nice, when we all went on the boat.

KS: Yeah, we took a Catamaran trip.

DO: ...I'm trying to figure out what we were talking about.

TBS: I can't remember.

DO: We got back and we said, "Oh, that's what we gotta tell."

TBS: I know, I remember saying that.

DO: I knew this would happen. Oh, I remember what it was: Well, it's our band, playing the band. But no, the wrap...

KS: You threw the wrap party?

DO: Yeah, the wrap party at our jam place that we spent all the three months and we'd go every Sunday. We ended up becoming really close with the guys who worked there and hanging out there every weekend, playing music at this place, and they ended up letting us throw a wrap party there.

KS: We grilled barbecue.

DO: Yeah, the old South African brine outside with a bunch of people from the crew there. We played music, hung out, it was cool.

TV: Is there one last wish, of sorts, that you hope fans know about the film?

KS: I think, thank you to the fans, the ones that have been there since we were cast. I remember Wes would announce who was being cast on Twitter. He always really wanted to make the fans a part of this. Whenever we had a new location, he'd tweet it out. He really kept them included and also this [movie] to me, is a thank-you to them for that. We tie everything up, we give them the answers that they want... maybe not the ones they want but ... the ship will be answered. A little thank-you to them.

DO: Yeah, they're the reason we got to make three of these...It's five years together. We genuinely enjoy making them, too, so it's been a pleasure for us.

TV: If 10 years down the line, you were given the chance to do a fourth movie, would you?

KS: In 10 years?

DO: Absolutely not. You guys?

TBS: Depends on how much money they'd be willing to pay.

KS: If they throw a wrap party, then yes.

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