Gladers face more challenges in 'Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials'

The teenagers from the young adult thriller "The Maze Runner", adapted from the James Dashner books, return to the silver screen this month in a sequel to the dystopian film.

"Teen Wolf" star Dylan O'Brien reprises his role as Thomas in "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials", which picks up from where last year's sci-fi adventure ended -- with the so-called Gladers having escaped the maze and now confronting new obstacles and mysteries.

"We tried to top ourselves here, especially on the action and the adventure side of things," director Wes Ball said in an interview.

"But (we also tried to) still hold onto the characters, the emotion and all that fun stuff that I think people ultimately connected with in the first one."

"The Maze Runner" was made for around $30 million and went on to gross more than $340 million worldwide.

British actress Kaya Scodelario, who will star in the next "Pirates of the Caribbean" film, and "Love Actually" and "Game of Thrones" actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster also return in the sequel.

"What was nice about it was that it never felt that big. It's a relatively low budget for what we're shooting and we are a little family," Scodelario said.

"We were excited to have Wes back because we knew he could do something amazing with this story and I think he has. It's a better movie than the first one because it's bigger."

"Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" hits UK cinemas on Thursday and U.S. cinemas on Sept. 18.