Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Ending Explained (2024)

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is the second film in the Maze Runner trilogy, one that ends with its share of twists, turns, and shocking revelations. After the ending of The Maze Runner, Thomas and his friends - a group dubbed the Gladers - are taken inside a WCKD facility. WCKD is the morally gray organization of Maze Runner's universe, responsible for creating the titular maze from the first movie and experimenting on immune children to find a cure to a disease known only as the Flare.

Much like in The Maze Runner, and the ending of Maze Runner: The Death Cure, WCKD is a vital element of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials' ending. The film begins in a similar vein to the second Maze Runner book in chronological order, with Thomas and his friends in WCKD's facility before escaping to the Scorch, a vast stretch of desert that will further test the immunes so that WCKD can develop a cure. What transpires is a story full of twists, turns, and revelations by the time of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ending.

Why Teresa Calls WCKD & Betrays Thomas In The Scorch Trials

Teresa's betrayal is linked to the complicated backstory of her and Thomas.

At the end of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Thomas and his friends reach a WCKD resistance group called the Right Arm. As the Right Arm further explains WCKD's motivations, Teresa sneaks away and contacts the latter organization. She alerts WCKD to the Right Arm's location, leading to a siege and the capture of several immunes like Minho, Aris, and a Right Arm soldier named Sonya. Teresa explains to Thomas that she recovered her lost memories at the beginning of the film in the WCKD facility, which adds context to why she betrayed Thomas and the Right Arm.

In The Maze Runner, it is revealed that Teresa and Thomas used to work for WCKD before having their memories wiped and being sent into the titular maze themselves. Thomas' memories of this were recovered when he was stung by a Griever in The Maze Runner, while Teresa's were returned to her at the beginning of The Scorch Trials. Teresa recovering her memories allowed her to reflect on WCKD's intentions, something she still believes in. Teresa still sees WCKD's barbaric methods as a means to a noble end, explaining her betrayal of Thomas and the Right Arm.

Why Thomas Turned On WCKD & Became An Informant For Right Arm

Thomas and Teresa are two sides of the same coin by the end of The Scorch Trials.

Conversely, Thomas' views on his and Teresa's past lives are in stark contrast. Despite Teresa believing that WCKD's methods are the best way of finding a cure for the Flare and saving humanity, Thomas does not agree. Thomas believes that WCKD's experiments are too brutal and extreme to be worth a cure for the Flare. Putting children into various life-or-death situations, forcing them to grieve their friends, fight endless dangers, and struggle to survive is how WCKD will eventually glean a cure by analyzing the brains of the immune specimens after these trials.

After recovering his memories, Thomas remembers why he opposed WCKD in the first place. Even more so after The Maze Runner, Thomas believes that WCKD is wrong in putting children through endless torments in the slim hopes of a cure. A cure for the Flare is not even known to be possible even after WCKD's experiments, with Thomas believing the loss of life and tyrannical ways of the organization can not be excused even by the small chance of one being developed. As such, The Scorch Trials ends with Thomas vowing revenge against WCKD and joining the Right Arm.

Where WCKD Takes Minho & Other Kidnapped Survivors & Why They're Wanted

Teresa's betrayal of Thomas leads to several Gladers being taken by WCKD, setting up a third movie.

At the end of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, WCKD's attack against the Right Arm leads to Gladers like Minho, Aris, and Sonya getting captured. The reason for this stems from WCKD's motivations for finding a cure for the Flare. Originally, the plan was to capture Thomas and the rest of the Gladers too, yet his resistance - along with the Right Arm's help in the battle - saw only Minho and a few others captured.

WCKD desired to capture the immune children to run more tests on them. At the end of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the remaining Gladers have now passed two phases of WCKD's trials, meaning the chances of a cure are further along. WCKD wanted to capture the survivors to run further tests and experiments on them after the titular Scorch Trials were completed, in the hopes of finally curing the Flare and saving the planet.

How Many Other Maze Experiments Did WCKD Have?

The true extent of WCKD's other experiments is left unexplored by The Scorch Trials.

One of the biggest reveals in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials' story is that WCKD had other maze experiments in play. Thomas and his group of Gladers from The Maze Runner were dubbed "Group A," while Aris was from "Group B." By the ending of The Scorch Trials, it is not explicitly confirmed how many maze experiments WCKD ran in total, though it can be assumed as four. In the WCKD compound at the beginning of the film, the surviving Gladers are assigned as A, B, C, or D, hinting that four mazes were built.

The Scorch Trials' Ending Sets Up The Death Cure

The third film in the trilogy was adequately teased by The Scorch Trials.

In the climactic battle of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the third film is set up. Given that the Maze Runner book trilogy consisted of three stories, many were aware that The Scorch Trials would be the middle installment of a series. The story reflected this by leaving Thomas' journey unconcluded, setting up the final story of Maze Runner: The Death Cure. From Teresa's betrayal and Minho's capture to the vow of Thomas to fight against WCKD and kill Ava Paige - the organization's leader - the teases at The Death Cure were plentiful in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ ending.

How The Scorch Trials' Ending Compares To The Sequel Book

The second Maze Runner film deviates more heavily from the source material.

The first Maze Runner film was mostly similar to James Dashner's original book, though Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials makes some fairly big changes. Some of these changes are found at the beginning of the movie, though several are included in The Scorch Trials' ending. In the final act of the original book, Thomas is imprisoned by Group B at the end of the story, led by Teresa. The Right Arm does not appear in the second book, with the titular Scorch Trials consisting only of Group A - Thomas' Gladers - and Group B, Aris' team.

After being captured, Thomas, Teresa, Aris, and the other Gladers are attacked by creatures created by WICKED. WICKED arrives and, rather than capturing the Gladers like in the film, attempts to "save" them from the creatures. The Scorch Trial book ends with Thomas in solitary confinement in a WICKED compound, not knowing whether his friends are alive. The book ends with an epilogue from WICKED director Ava Paige who states that the Scorch Trials are now completed, and the Gladers will soon be told whether they are immune to the Flare or not.

As evident, the changes made to Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials are fairly drastic. The film changes the narrative to be much more stereotypical, with Thomas joining a rebel group against a tyrannical organization. Teresa's betrayal is also made much more clear in the second film, something the book leaves mysteriously unexplored for the final story to answer. In the film, the titular Scorch Trials are less actual trials and more a result of the Gladers escaping WCKD at the beginning of the movie.

The Real Meaning Of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials' Ending

The second film's ending symbolizes the core conflict, and messaging, of the Maze Runner series.

While the ending of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials works on a conventional level of setting up a sequel, it symbolizes the core message of the series. The themes of the series involve exploring how far someone would be willing to go to save the world, themselves, or their friends. On one side, WCKD is clearly willing to go to extreme lengths to find a cure for the Flare, from the maze experiments of the first film to the murder and kidnapping of children at the end of The Scorch Trials.

In the middle of these themes, The Scorch Trials' ending places Teresa. While she does not enjoy betraying Thomas or her friends, she sees WCKD's extreme methods as a means to a positive end. On the other side of WCKD, there is Thomas. Thomas is not willing to sacrifice his humanity or align with WCKD's methods to find the cure for the Flare. Thomas is more focused on saving himself and his friends from their tyranny and allowing the world to heal naturally, if possible, something the ending of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials explores via its climactic third act.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

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Wes Ball's Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials picks up directly after the first film after Thomas and the other Gladers escaped from the World Catastrophe Killzone Department (WCKD). While they may have escaped, the team must now evade WCKD soldiers while traversing the dangerous Scorch. The Scorch Trials was followed up with Maze Runner: The Death Cure in 2018.

Director

Wes Ball

Writers

T.S. Nowlin

Cast

Kaya Scodelario , Aidan Gillen , Nathalie Emmanuel , Dylan O'Brien , Patricia Clarkson , Rosa Salazar , Thomas Brodie-Sangster , Ki Hong Lee , Giancarlo Esposito , Katherine McNamara

Franchise(s)

The Maze Runner

Sequel(s)

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

prequel(s)

The Maze Runner