After he played Stiles Stilinski on Teen Wolf, actor Dylan O’Brien headed to the maze. The New Jersey native starred as Thomas in The Maze Runner film series, based on the novels of the same name by James Dashner.
When viewers meet Dylan’s character at the start of the 2014 movie, he enters a maze with no recollection of how got there. While acclimating to his surroundings Thomas meets fellow Gladers Alby (Aml Ameen), Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Minho (Ki Hong Lee) and Gally (Will Poulter), among others. At first, there are only boys living in this mysterious world, but then one day, a girl named Theresa (Kaya Scodelario) joins the maze. Together, they work as a team to figure out how to escape the maze. Once they find a weak spot and make a run for it, the Gladers discover that they’re test subjects in an experiment and are actually living in a post-apocalyptic world.
“My career is a constant acting class,” Dylan told NME during a May 2021 interview. “To be able to do the Maze Runner movies simultaneously with Teen Wolf was amazing in terms of getting in reps and working my [acting] muscle.”
Following the success of the first Maze Runner movie, a second — Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials — premiered in September 2015. Years later, the final film — Maze Runner: The Death Cure — hit theaters in January 2018.
“It’s a mixture of emotions for me. It means a lot to me to be able to finish the film and finish the trilogy,” Dylan told USA Today amid the third movie’s release. “The trilogy always meant the world to me and always will. And all these people will too.”
While filming the final Maze Runner movie, the MTV alum endured an accident on set that put the movie on hold.
“It does flood me with this prideful kind of feeling. Like I conquered something,” he also told USA Today about returning to finish the third installment. “It just feels so right. I would never have been OK with how we left off. This is how I would have felt best, actually finishing it. And on the most positive note, which is how we started it.”
Although Dylan told NME that people “put you in a box” because of his past roles, the actor has a plan to show off a difference side of himself with projects going forward.
Scroll through our gallery to see what the cast of the Maze Runner franchise is up to now.
Love J-14? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for fun, exclusive videos with your favorite stars.
