The Maze Runner Movies Were Right To Cut 1 Huge Element Of Thomas’ Book Story

Summary

• The Maze Runner
  movie omitted Thomas’ telepathic connection with Teresa, and it improved the plot.
• Thomas and Teresa’s telepathy would have been too confusing and difficult to adapt on-screen.
• The telepathy wasn’t necessary for Thomas and Teresa’s story.

The Maze Runner movie ignored one significant part of Thomas’ story, but rather than hurting the film, it actually made the plot better. In 2014, Dylan O’Brien took on the role of Thomas in the cast of The Maze Runner movie adaptation, and its two consequent sequels. The film was based on a young adult sci-fi book by James Dashner. Like most YA stories of that time, The Maze Runner took place in a dystopic world full of hidden agendas and dangers. Yet, the movie wasn’t able to cover everything the book introduced, and it made the film better.

The big draw of The Maze Runner’s story was the maze itself. The story centers on Thomas, a young man with no memories who is mysteriously put into the heart of an impenetrable maze full of teenage boys. Surrounded by ever-changing walls and venomous mechanical creatures called Grievers, Thomas had to figure out who he was and how to get out. More than that, he needed to uncover the true meaning of the maze. With all this in mind, it made sense that The Maze Runner movie ended without including a major aspect of Thomas’ tale.

The Maze Runner Movies Made The Right Choice Cutting Thomas & Teresa’s Telepathy

The Telepathy Would Have Been Too Much

Although The Maze Runner successfully brought to life the maze and all its characters, the movie avoided adapting the telepathy between Thomas and Teresa. In James Dashner’s book, Teresa arrived in the maze with a note claiming she was the last person to enter the maze, then she fell into a coma. When she woke up, Thomas discovered that she could speak to him telepathically. Teresa told Thomas information that the other Gladers couldn’t or shouldn’t know. This power didn’t exist between anyone but Thomas and Teresa. Ultimately, it helped forge their connection, and made Teresa all the more mysterious.

Although Thomas and Teresa’s telepathy was an interesting aspect of The Maze Runner books, it was a relief that the movie did not try to adapt this detail to the big screen. While the telepathy was rather seamless in the book, it would have been too much to follow in the movie. Audiences were already trying to grasp the reality of the maze, and later, the existence of WCKD and Thomas and Teresa’s role in it. Ultimately, there would have been too many reveals to keep track of in just one movie, leaving viewers confused and overwhelmed.

This Maze Runner Book Story Would Have Been Too Confusing In The Movies

Telepathy Is Hard To Do On-Screen

Thomas and Teresa’s telepathy would also have been too difficult to produce on-screen. On the page, telepathy is fairly simple to explain. The dialogue can be written differently from regular words spoken out loud. Furthermore, readers are more firmly planted in Thomas’ brain, so they can gain clarity from his thoughts. Movies do not have the same circumstances, though. Without Thomas’ inner monologue, the telepathy could have been mistaken for dialogue spoken out loud, or thoughts only Thomas was having. The movie would have had to distort Teresa’s voice when using telepathy, or wasted time explaining the scenario.

Adapting Thomas and Teresa’s telepathy would have created another question that the movie had to answer.

On top of that, adapting Thomas and Teresa’s telepathy would have created another question that the movie had to answer. In the first Maze Runner, there was already so much that the movie needed to explain, including the maze, Thomas and Teresa’s identities, the Flare virus, and WCKD’s experiments. If the movie had included telepathy too, it would have been another detail the movie needed to tie up, and at a certain point, there would not have been enough time. In the end, the telepathy was a bit too strange to pile onto The Maze Runner’s already complex story.

The Adaptations Didn’t Need This Part Of Thomas & Teresa’s Story To Succeed

The Telepathy Isn’t Necessary

Fortunately, The Maze Runner movies didn’t need Thomas and Teresa to be telepathic. Nothing was really lost by taking that aspect of their relationship away. From Teresa’s first appearance, when she recognized Thomas, it was clear that the pair had an unresolved connection. The telepathy certainly would have added to that, but it wasn’t vital in building their characters. If anything, it was just an extra bit of mystery. While the books had time to delve into the question of their telepathy, the movies did not, so removing the plot altogether ended up working out.

For the most part, a movie adaptation benefits from being more accurate to its book, but in the case of The Maze Runner, that isn’t necessarily true. Though including Thomas and Teresa’s telepathic connection would have brought the movie closer to the book, it would have created unnecessary confusion and questions. Therefore, The Maze Runner movie made the right choice in keeping Thomas and Teresa’s telepathy on the page.