Thomas woke up in a rusting metal box with no memory. That’s how it starts. If you’ve read James Dashner’s books or watched the Wes Ball movies, you know the vibe is pure claustrophobia and adrenaline. But when we talk about the main characters of Maze Runner, we aren't just talking about a bunch of teenagers running through a concrete labyrinth. We're talking about a group of psychological case studies designed by an organization called WICKED (World In Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department).
The Gladers weren't chosen at random. They were the "Elite." They were the ones whose brains might hold the cure for the Flare, a man-made virus that turned humanity into "Cranks."
Thomas: The Catalyst Who Ruined Everything (In a Good Way)
Thomas is weird. Most protagonists are relatable, but Thomas is intentionally frustrating. When he arrives in the Glade, he doesn't just sit there. He breaks every rule. He’s the "Greenie" who enters the Maze at night—a death sentence—to save Alby and Minho.
Honestly, Thomas is a bit of an unreliable narrator in the books because his memories are literally wiped and then partially restored. Before the Box, he worked for WICKED. He helped design the variables. Imagine the guilt. You spent your childhood building a torture device for your friends, and then you're thrown into it yourself. Dylan O’Brien brought a certain frantic energy to the role in the films, but the book version of Thomas is much more internal and telepathic. He shares a mental link with Teresa that makes the other Gladers naturally suspicious of him. He’s the bridge between the creators and the subjects.
Without Thomas, the Gladers probably would have lived in that courtyard for another thirty years until they died of old age or a supply shortage. He was the "Final Variable." His arrival triggered the Ending.
Newt: The Glue and the Heartbreak
If Thomas is the engine, Newt is the oil that keeps the machine from seizing up. Newt is easily the most beloved of the main characters of Maze Runner, and for a devastating reason. He isn't immune.
Think about that for a second.
✨ Don't miss: Pictures of Glen Powell: Why Everyone Is Obsessed With His 2026 Look
Most of the kids in the Glade are "Munies"—they can’t catch the Flare. Newt is the "Control." He was put in there to see how a non-immune person would react under extreme stress compared to the others. He’s the Glue. He keeps the peace between the hot-headed Gally and the impulsive Thomas. But Newt carries a massive secret: his limp. In the books, it's revealed he tried to take his own life by jumping off a Maze wall because he couldn't handle the hopelessness. He survived the fall but ended up with a permanent injury.
Newt's arc is the emotional core of the series. While everyone else is fighting for a future, Newt is fighting to stay sane long enough to see his friends get there. His letter to Thomas—"Please, Tommy, please"—is basically the "Stay gold, Ponyboy" of the 2010s YA era. It’s brutal. It’s unfair.
Minho: Why Speed Isn't Everything
Minho is the Keeper of the Runners. He’s the muscle and the sass. While Thomas is busy having existential crises, Minho is out there literally mapping a shifting death-trap. He’s one of the few characters who treats the Maze like a job.
He’s also the most loyal person in the entire franchise. When Thomas gets stuck in the Maze, Minho’s first instinct is survival, but his second is deep-seated camaraderie. He’s a leader who doesn't actually want to lead; he prefers the action of the front lines. In the Scorch Trials, we see him struggle more with the psychological toll of the desert. He’s a soldier who needs a mission. Without a clear path to run, Minho starts to fray, which makes his capture in the Death Cure movie even harder to watch. He is the personification of the Gladers' strength.
Teresa and the Problem of "Betrayal"
Teresa Agnes is complicated. People hate her. People defend her. Both are right.
🔗 Read more: The Sinner Season 2 Cast: Why the Performances Still Haunt Us
As the only girl to arrive in the original Glade (until Group B is revealed), she’s the "Trigger." She arrives with a note saying "She's the last one. Ever." and then falls into a coma. Her relationship with Thomas is the most controversial part of the main characters of Maze Runner lineup.
In the books, her "betrayal" in the Scorch is far more calculated and painful than in the movies. WICKED forced her to betray Thomas to trigger a specific brain response—betrayal. She did it because she genuinely believed "WICKED is good." She thought that by sacrificing her relationship with Thomas, she could save the world. It’s a classic utilitarian dilemma. Does the life of one boy (or his trust) outweigh the lives of millions dying from a brain-eating virus? Teresa says yes. Thomas says no.
She dies saving Thomas in the end, which is a bit of a "redemption by death" trope, but it fits. She was never going to fit into the new world they found because she was too tied to the old one.
The Supporting Cast: More Than Redshirts
We can't ignore the others. They provide the stakes.
- Chuck: The younger brother figure. His death is the moment Thomas realizes that WICKED isn't just a group of scientists; they are monsters. Chuck represented the innocence that the Maze destroyed.
- Gally: The antagonist who wasn't actually a villain. Gally had been "Changed" by the Grief Serum. He saw memories of the world before, and he saw Thomas. He knew Thomas was involved with the creators. Gally’s obsession with the "Rules" was a trauma response. He wanted safety.
- Brenda: Introduced in the Scorch, she provides the counterpoint to Teresa. She’s gritty, street-smart, and has actually lived in the real, rotting world. She isn't a scientist; she’s a survivor.
Why Do These Characters Resonate?
The reason the main characters of Maze Runner stuck with a generation isn't because of the action sequences. It’s because of the "Killzone." Dashner created a world where the characters' emotions were literally being harvested as data.
Every time Thomas felt fear, a computer in a lab recorded it. Every time Newt felt despair, it was a data point. This creates a weird meta-layer for the reader. We are watching them suffer for our entertainment, just as WICKED is watching them suffer for "science." It makes the characters feel like they are fighting not just against monsters (Grievers) but against the very narrative itself.
The Science of the "Elite"
According to the lore, the "Killzone" is the brain. The Flare virus eats the brain. WICKED needed to map the patterns of those who were immune to see why their brains resisted the virus.
This is why the characters were put through "Variables."
- The Maze: Testing problem-solving under life-or-death pressure.
- The Scorch: Testing endurance and environmental adaptation.
- The Betrayal: Testing emotional resilience.
The tragedy is that after all that testing, after all those kids died, there was no cure. The "Main Characters" were the cure themselves—not their blood, but their genes. They were meant to be the seed of a new civilization on a protected island.
Common Misconceptions About the Group
A lot of people think the movies and books are identical. They aren't.
In the books, Thomas and Teresa can speak to each other telepathically. This changes the dynamic entirely. It makes their bond feel much more intrusive and inescapable. In the movies, they are just two people who remember each other.
Another big one: the "Cure." In the films, Thomas's blood is the literal physical cure. In the books, it's way more bleak. There is no magic medicine. The only way humanity survives is by letting the old world die and starting over with the Munies. This makes the main characters of Maze Runner survivors of an apocalypse, not saviors of a civilization.
💡 You might also like: Where You Can Still Stream The Edge of Seventeen Without the Hassle
Actionable Insights for Fans and Writers
If you're looking to dive deeper into the world of the Gladers or even write your own survival fiction, here’s how to apply the lessons from these characters:
- Analyze the "Variable" Structure: Read The Kill Order and The Fever Code. These prequels explain why Thomas and Teresa were brainwashed. It changes how you view their actions in the first book.
- Character Archetypes: If you're writing, notice how the Glade has a functional hierarchy. You have the Leader (Alby/Newt), the Specialist (Minho), the Disruptor (Thomas), and the Outsider (Teresa). This balance is why the group survives as long as it does.
- The "Why" Matters: The characters in the Maze Runner are memorable because their external conflict (the Maze) is perfectly mirrored by their internal conflict (identity loss).
To truly understand the main characters of Maze Runner, you have to look at them as victims of a system that tried to turn their humanity into an equation. They won not by finding a cure, but by refusing to be variables anymore. They broke the experiment by choosing each other over the "greater good."
Check out the original 2009 manuscript notes if you can find them; Dashner originally had even darker paths for some of these characters, especially regarding the original "Group B" survivors who didn't make the final cut. Understanding the evolution of these characters from page to screen offers a masterclass in how to adapt internal monologues into visual action.