Every month there’s a new YA sensation turned movie franchise, and most end up a bust, like The Mortal Instruments or Divergent (though those will likely spawn sequels anyway). Others, like The Hunger Games, prove worthy of all the attention and praise. FOX’s The Maze Runner aims to join Katniss in the upper echelon, and solely because it stars Teen Wolf‘s Dylan O’Brien, I’m optimistic.

The panel kicks off with the moderator asking the audience: “Any grievers in the building?” Cue squealing.

The Maze Runner comes from a trilogy of books by James Dashner, about a group of teenagers dropped in a remote location, arriving via elevator, with their memories wiped clean, surrounded by a massive maze. Mysteriousness abound.

Then we get the same trailer that you’ve all likely seen, which is an excuse for everyone in the audience to yell about Stiles… right before they’re about to see him.

The guests for the panel include author James Dashner, director Wes Ball, star Will Poulter (who just won an MTV Movie Award for We’re The Millers) and the aforementioned and fan-favorite Dylan O’Brien, who might’ve skipped from being the next big thing to just being a big thing.

How does it feel to have your book being made into a movie?

Dashner: It’s surreal, exciting, and “unbelievable how much they’ve matched the vision for my book.”

Were Dylan and Will fans of the book before getting the part?

O’Brien didn’t know the book until he was brought in to audition, then he found it, researched it and loved it. It “would’ve been my favorite book as a kid, straight up.” Poulter’s experience was much the same, and relished discovering its amazing group of fans.

Was their pressure to do it right?

Ball: Yes, but it’s the best kind of pressure, to please the fans and capture the spirit of book and make the best movie out of it.

Then, it became time to see an all new scene, one that wasn’t in the book, a sequence where the maze changes. The scene involves Thomas (Dylan O’Brien’s character) and Minho (Ki Hong Lee), getting caught in the maze when it’s changing. It’s freaking intense and cool, and certainly lives up to the title of the film (there’s a lot of running). It looks much better than most YA films.

“You guys must be in great shape. A lot of running.” As I observed, it is called Maze Runner, after all.

Poulter is proud to be a part of such a great young cast, with emotional relationships as the core, a rarity in films like this. Memory loss, the notion that these characters might have families somewhere, that they must’ve come from somewhere, all these questions you’d naturally wrestle with are all in the movie. According to Poulter, there’s a great exploration of character, which is unique to the genre.

Where did the idea for this concept and world come from?
Dashner was heavily influenced by Lord of the Flies, Ender’s Game, and the concept of a teenage boy being sent somewhere strange. He also wrote the book while LOST was on, which is one of his favorite shows. To top it off, mazes have always creeped him out, ever since The Shining. Put all those elements together, and you have The Maze Runner.

How do you make us care about characters with the maze as such a distraction? Put characters first. The maze is one of the monsters in the movie.

What are the similarities and differences between Stiles and Thomas?
Well, they are both “characters I play.” Ball remarks that “Thomas is better looking than Stiles,” to which Dylan asks hypothetically: “Who would you do?” Then he admitted: “I was gonna not say that, and I did anyways.” In all seriousness, “Thomas is more stoic, calmer, more introverted, quieter…More like me.” Stiles is O’Brien’s goofy side, which apparently is his off-camera side.

What were the differences between shooting Teen Wolf and working on TV than on a movie?
According to Dylan, it was actually very similar to his experience on Teen Wolf. It shoots fast, and doesn’t have the luxury of time and a lot of money, and The Maze Runner was very much the same way. It’s a smaller budgeted movie, but had to make it big. “It looks like a 100 million dollar movie, and it’s not.”

What’s it like working with Kaya Scodelario?
Kaya plays Teresa, the only girl in a sea of men. O’Brien: “You would love Kaya. She’s amazing.” Being the only girl in the movie could be intimidating, but she was apparently the perfect girl to have. According to Poulter, when she first arrived on set, the guys were all playing a dumb game that involved throwing sports equipment at each other, and she comes in, catches a ball and throws it straight back, with a cigarette in her mouth. It doesn’t get cooler than that, and both O’Brien and Poulter admit how badass she is.

Did the movie fulfill Dashner’s imagination for how it would be adapted?
Dashner: “It’s hard to talk about it…” “when they’re sitting right next to me,” Ball finishes for him. In reality, it’s hard for Dashner to reveal his thoughts without sounding insincere or cheesy, because he loves it. He’s “utterly thrilled with each casting decision…matched my vision perfectly.” He loved being on set, feeling the family vibe, and “cannot believe what good actors they were.” He thinks these actors are special, and that people will look back at this film and see it as where their careers took off. O’Brien and Poulter are cool with that assessment.

RE: Dylan O’Brien: How was it like going from comedy and romantic roles like The Internship and The First Timeto an action flick The Maze Runner?
O’Brien: It’s “great to be able to try different things.” It was far more “physically demanding…a lot more tiring.” He didn’t have to run during the audition, and O’Brien has often wondered…what if he had a weird run? At this point, most of the panel each do a version of a ridiculous run, that totally would’ve ruined the movie. Or made it a camp classic. It’s a great point though, something I wouldn’t have thought of. Thankfully it was not an issue.

In book, Teresa and Thomas communicate telepathically, do they in film?
Ball: “Sadly no.” It’s a “difficult thing to portray in film.” Apparently that connection is kind of there, if you look for it. Dashner fully endorses any changes in the movie, noting that telepathy normally looks cheesy in the movies.

It’s time to move on, but not before a selfie with the audience. As the talented quartet wander off, moderator Ralph Garman remarks: “It’s a shame that Dylan kid isn’t good looking…he could have a career.” Har har har!

The Maze Runner hits theaters September 19, 2014. Buy the book now to be ready.

The Maze Runner is the next big YA adaptation to hit theaters. On September 14th, when Wesley Ball’s film comes to the big screen, we’ll know if it’s the next Hunger Games, or the next Mortal Instruments, The Host or Beautiful Creatures.

FOX clearly has high hopes for the potential franchise, as it became one of its showcase films during WonderCon this weekend. Before their panel (coverage here), I got to be a part of a press conference with Maze Runner author James Dashner, director Wes Ball and stars Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf) and Will Poulter (We’re The Millers). What follows is an overview of the discussion between this young group of people whose lives are about to change, should this puppy go supernova/Twilight.

James Dashner, when he wrote the books, tried to make something outside of the crazed Young Adult thing.

Ball believes the YA dystopian craze has come about because he thinks kids like to be treated as an adults. But he compares The Maze Runner more to Lord of the Flies, and not post-apocalyptic. The second film, should there be one, is more like that.

Dylan O’Brien points to another reason for the post-apocalyptic YA phenomenon. “Jennifer Lawrence.” Laughs and general agreement ensued. “How could that not create a franchise?”

Dylan was asked how challenging the role of Thomas was, as opposed to his comedic role of Stiles on Teen Wolf. He admits to the difficulty, and humbly hopes he did okay. Wes Ball immediately tells us that he rose to the challenge.

O’Brien didn’t go into the film thinking he was the next Katniss or this was the next Hunger Games. That’s a lot of expectation or weight, and plus, he’s a boy. He loves the story and fell in love with James’ book. The process and what they went through was insane, considering the budget and time, or lack thereof. But they made it happen, and he’s clearly proud of their work. It’s funny to O’Brien that now he’s getting asked, “How does it feel like to be in such a big movie?” And his response is normally, “Cool, we made it look like we were in a big movie.” It’s a testament to Ball’s direction, the FX and the buzz surrounding the project.

On the subject of a Thomas vs. Katniss film: “She would kick my ass.” Everyone on the panel agreed, and so did I. Peeta vs. Thomas on the other hand…

Will Poulter recently won an MTV Movie Award for We’re The Millers. It’s news to me that people watched and enjoyed that movie. But like Dylan O’Brien, he’s taking on a much different character here, as Gally, his character, has a hard edge. Adorably, even with all the changes in his life recently, Poulter still lives in West London “with my mum.” But he’s ready to go on this journey with James and company.

Was there pressure to adapt the book into a film? Yes, of course, Ball says, but it’s “good pressure.” He was a fan of the book, and took it from that point of view. He sought to give a sense of truth to the world itself. “The only pressure was to execute the perfect movie I had in my head on the screen. We had a lot of challenges, but it was a fantastic experience…Everybody was in it 100% to make a cool movie together…[It was a ] unique bonding experience…[and that] shows up in movie.”

What was it like bringing grievers to life? Dashner believes that “their vision perfectly matched mine,” and that they took his book and made them even better. They believe they’ve made a “unique movie monster that stands out from all the rest” because its “biomechanical, nasty, scary, metallic, all these things,” and came up with a design with some of the artists that would be really fun to animate. The consensus for the Grievers? “Freaking awesome.” Apparently the monsters were brought to life by the guy who created the Life of Pi tiger.

Dashner learned to love reading when he was a young adult, and Stephen King was his YA section. When he writes, he “writes naturally what he would like at that age,” but doesn’t think about his audience. That’s why he believes the books have crossed over to so many audiences. He seeks to “write the coolest thing I can write.” Ball and his team wanted to “make a movie for the kid in everybody, not [a movie] for kids.”

The soundtrack for the film was discussed, and James Dashner was concerned (since he often writes to soundtracks) when they were making it that they’d want a typical pop soundtrack. And luckily, that’s not at all what Wes Ball had in mind (“No, we’re going full epic, orchestral score” ). He apparently ONLY listens to soundtracks, ever since he was 16, something that Dylan and company can attest to from their drive down to Anaheim for the Con. The film is equal parts John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and an eclectic mix of old school/classic film sound, as the music becomes a character and supports the movie. Ball’s very excited for soundtrack buffs to watch the movie. According to Dashner, “it’s awesome” and blew him away.

Favorite movie soundtracks were discussed, and the greats were mentioned, like Jurassic Park, Aliens, the last Superman. Will mentions the Bourne trilogy. And of course, The Maze Runner.

Another reason to check out the movie on September 19th, 2014. Catch up on the books now.