Thomas (Dylan O’Brien), Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Minho (Ki Hong Lee) and the rest of the surviving Gladers managed to make it out of The Maze, but it turns out, that was only the beginning of what WCKD has in store for them. Here’s what producer Wyck Godfrey told EW about how things change in The Maze Runner sequel:

“The first movie was the mystery of ‘Where are we and what is this place? And can we get out?’ But the second movie is about the repercussions of getting out and the discovery of what the world is actually like.”

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And this world isn’t pretty. The Gladers come to learn that they’re actually WCKD’s test subjects. Years before the events of The Maze Runner, the world got hit with enormous sun flares that turned the region between the Tropics into a wasteland now dubbed The Scorch. Here’s how director Wes Ball describes it:

“It has transformed the world into a desert with sand dunes that crawl and are swallowing the ruins of a lost world.”

On top of that, the world is also being ravaged by a condition called The Flare. If you catch it, you eventually devolve into a vicious, blood-thirsty cannibal. Ball further explained:   

“We don’t want to call them zombies, but they fit into that category. They’re not undead, but they are rage-filled.”

In addition to those quotes from the filmmakers, EW’s also got our very first images from Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. One clearly features our main man, Thomas, but in case you need a little refresher, the characters standing behind him in the photo on the right side of this article are Newt and Minho, Thomas’ fellow Gladers, and Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), the sole female Glader. As for the one of the folks hanging upside-down, it looks like it’s the four aforementioned characters front and center, but if you look to the left, I believe that might be Giancarlo Esposito as Jorge.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is due in theaters on September 18th and also stars Jacob Lofland, Rosa Salazar, Patricia Clarkson and Lili Taylor.

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Here’s the official synopsis of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials:

In this next chapter of the epic “Maze Runner” saga, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all.

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