KAYA SCODELARIO’S UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL IN “THE MAZE RUNNER”

Movie release material

 In the highly anticipated action-adventure “The Maze Runner,” based on the hugely successful book series of the same title by James Dashner,  Kaya Scodelario stars as Teresa in the movie within the midst of teenage boys confined in a place called The Glade where she is the only girl in the mix and where they have no idea who they are except for their names.

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Teresa’s arrival into the mysterious Glade takes her fellow teenage captives by surprise: she’s the first girl in their midst. It’s immediately apparent that she has a connection to Dylan O’Brien’s Thomas; a connection that may well explain the Gladers’ confinement. Teresa came into the Glade just right after the movie’s lead protagonist, Thomas (played by Dylan O’Brien) – among the boys, only both of them have repetitious dreams of a mysterious organization of which only the acronym WCKD flashes within their memories.  

                “The Maze Runner” opens up on a vast space where teenage boys thrived for three years, each having their own group and responsibilities to attend to in order to survive.  Within The Glade is the mysterious, dangerous and massive maze where predators await.  All of the boys have awaken inside an elevator that has ascended from somewhere that led them into The Glade and has since then accustomed and resigned themselves to survive.  Until the last of them was delivered, alas, Teresa, a girl has finally found her way into the Glade. 

                “Teresa is every bit as tough as the guys,” Scodelario affirms.  “She’s independent, feisty and tough and definitely has a ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ vibe.”  Moreover, says Ball, “she’s every bit as mysterious as the Glade and Maze, and when she comes up on that elevator, it all goes really bad.” 

Kaya Scodelario came to mainstream attention via British TV’s with her first role in E4’s SKINS, which started in 2007. Then 14, Scodelario had never acted before, but she overcame nerves at the audition and became one of the show’s most enduring characters, starring alongside Nicholas Hoult and Jack O’Connell in the show’s four seasons.

She appeared in her feature film debut in 2009, in Duncan Jones’s sci-fi indie “Moon,” and followed it up in 2010 with roles in “Shank” and “Clash of the Titans.” She earned critical plaudits for her turn as Cathy in Andrea Arnold’s stripped-back retelling of “Wuthering Heigths” in 2011 and starred alongside Dakota Fanning and Jeremy Irvine in the romantic drama “Now is Good” in 2012.