“The Maze Runner” begins near the tail end of the WCKD experiment, when the last people arrive in the Glade and its safety is breached. However, it neglects to show the equally interesting story of the first poor kid who finds himself in this dystopic situation — Alby (Aml Ameen), the leader of the Gladers.
Though their situation is far from optimal, late arrivals like Thomas at least have a group of Gladers already waiting for them, ready to explain the rules of their predicament. However, the movie establishes early on that Alby was the first person to enter the Glade. This means he had to face it all alone before other people started trickling in … and since it’s mentioned that new arrivals come on a monthly basis, he presumably had to do it for a pretty long time.
For an entire month, Alby had to survive without any real pre-existing information of the situation he found himself in. Imagine the terror of a young man who finds himself alone in this mysterious place, completely devoid of memories. Imagine how he stared at the giant walls around him, and discovered the vast, monster-filled labyrinth beyond them. Imagine how he managed to survive said discovery, and how terrified he must have been before he figured out that the Grievers won’t enter the Glade area.
That story alone would be a movie well worth seeing … though, to be fair, it would almost certainly be a horror movie.