Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials doesn't hit Hall H until Saturday, but after a special screening of the first film at San Diego Comic-Con, 20th Century Fox showed off the first 30 minutes of the sequel.

In case you need a quick refresher, the events of The Maze Runner went down in a place called The Glade, a large grassy area surrounded by four gigantic walls separating Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and the other Gladers from The Maze, a massive labyrinth that's patrolled by vicious creatures called Grievers. They manage to escape, but it turns out, The Maze is only the start of what Wicked has planned for them. Thomas and co. are eager to get answers, but in order to do so, they're going to have to trek through The Scorch first.

Footage

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Image via 20th Century Fox

The Scorch Trials opens strong with an especially powerful flashback teasing what happened to a young Thomas and how he wound up in this situation. Then, after a series of absolutely spot-on cuts, we're right back where The Maze Runner left off, with Thomas hopping out of a helicopter and making a mad dash for a gigantic guarded facility alongside Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and the rest of the survivors. The scene is absolutely packed with Crank screeches. We get a brief look at a group of them approaching from the distance and then a quick, but closer shot of one that looked far past "the gone" just before it's shot down.

From there the film jumps into the details of The Gladers' new predicament. Aiden Gillen's Janson insists that he's there to help and that there's a refuge safe from the horrors of the outside world where Wicked will never find them, but Thomas soon becomes skeptical and eventually confirms that Janson isn't being completely honest with them. Beds, hot meals and clean clothes are quite the treat, but certainly not worth the threat of winding up as pawns in the organization's dubious agenda again.

I'll leave the plot description at that to keep from spoiling the beginning of the film, but it's well worth noting that this was one insanely swift, tense and action-packed first act. Just like the first film, the beginning of The Scorch Trials proves that director Wes Ball has one heck of an eye for stunning visuals. The footage was loaded with motivated camera moves that all feel especially natural and always keep you focused on the details you want and need to be seeing.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

As for the performances, O'Brien and the rest of the Maze Runner veterans don't miss a beat. The physicality of their work is super impressive yet again and even amidst all the running around, you still get glimpses of how they're taking their characters to the next level. As for the newcomers, Jacob Lofland looks to be a standout. Gillen delivers solid work as Janson, but I did miss the extreme ambiguity regarding his loyalties that we get in the book whereas it's much clearer where Janson stands right off the bat in the film. There are big changes for Aris too, but they seem to suit Lofland's talents and I also suspect they could make him a stronger character in the long run as well.

It's a little tough to assess the potential of other story changes without seeing the full film, but the first act plays so well, I'm inclined to believe Ball knows what he's doing. It's a suspenseful, rip-roaring first 30 minutes that fly by in a flash. If Ball can continue to pair the necessary exposition with such intense action sequences and subtle yet meaningful character development, The Scorch Trials could really exceed the expectations set by the first film.

Audience Q&A

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Image via 20th Century Fox

After the screening wrapped up, Ball and author James Dashner came out to field a handful of questions. Here are some highlights:

  • They made some big story changes bringing the second book to screen. Dashner explained, "This movie, it's kind of a blend. There's some things from the third book that are pulled into this and if you know how the third book starts, it's very similar to what you just saw. So I think Wes and the team have done just a fantastic job of taking the second and third books, kind of putting them in a blender and pouring them out into two perfect movies."
  • Ball broke it down a bit further by highlighting one specific change you'll see early on in the second film. "In the book, which you can get away with, you can have Janson just kind of send them off on this task and it's fine, it works, but in a movie that's kind of death because it means your main characters are not active, you know? They're actually making these choices. So that was the big reason for us and that's probably the only big change in the whole movie is that our character's now on the run from Wicked having escaped having learned the truth about why they're there." Ball also added, "They still leave Wicked, they still travel through The Scorch, they meet some of your favorite characters. A lot of your favorite scenes that are in those books are in this movie, they're just slightly rearranged."
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    Image via 20th Century Fox
    Going into the second movie knowing that they'd get to make a third will really help all three films play well together. Ball explained, "We get to really, now, plan out what is the conclusion going to be and so we get to actually set stuff up in this movie that we get to pay off in the third one so it's gonna be a nice, awesome trilogy that's gonna feel great to watch through, you know, one after another."
  • Ball and co. made some big changes with Teresa (‎Kaya Scodelario) in the first movie and the same is true of her role in Scorch Trials, too. He noted, "It is a little different, but the core idea of what her character's arc is and sort of, let's say, her redemption in the third movie is going to be really powerful because we've set it up properly. And we get to enjoy her presence and see her arc and her struggle as a character with her versus, say, cutting back to her alone in a room in Wicked or something like that. It's good to have her along for the journey with these boys because it allows us to kind of have a human connection that we can explore cinematically."
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    Image via 20th Century Fox
    If The Maze Runner is high school, Scorch Trials is like the college years. "I always saw the first movie as basically that time in your life when you're, you know, basically in high school or before when you actually left the nest essentially. You're in those walls that someone put you in, your parents basically, and there's this kind of dangerous unknown world out there beyond and that first movie's about them breaking free of that and stepping out onto their own. And this next movie was, you could think of it as the college years, you know what I mean? It's about, you're out there on your own now and now what? Now what do we do? And that's gonna be really the arc that you're gonna see Thomas go through is that thing of, you know, what am I supposed to do now? And we'll be able to answer that at the end of the movie where we get to throw him into the next one."
  • What's the status of the third film, The Death Cure? Dashner noted, "We're working on the script right now." Ball added, "We're gonna probably be shooting in February."

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials hits theaters on September 18th. Keep an eye out for more coverage on the film from Comic-Con coming soon.

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