Back in 2016, Dylan O’Brien suffered a horrific near-death accident on the set of Maze Runner: The Death Cure.
The actor, who portrayed leading character Thomas in the dystopian sci-fi trilogy, was hit by a car in a stunt gone wrong. He suffered multiple injuries as a result, including a concussion, facial fracture, and brain trauma, and spent half a year in recovery.
Dylan previously shared that the accident completely changed his outlook on life and how he felt about being on set.
“I really was in a dark place there for a while, and it wasn’t an easy journey back,” he told Vulture in 2017. “There was a time there where I didn’t know if I would ever [act] again…and that thought scared me, too.”
Now, Dylan has opened up further about the “life-changing incident” in a new interview with Men’s Health.
“I’ve approached everything differently, you could say, particularly with regards to standing my ground on set,” he began.
“It’s very commonplace in the culture for young actors to be controlled, and the way they strive to do that is by always being like, ‘Oh, don’t become difficult. Don’t be a pain in the ass.’ Or, ‘Are you complaining, are you being difficult?’ Things like that,” he went on.
Dylan went on to say that he raised “concerns” about the safety of the stunt ahead of the incident, but was ignored.
“I can look at that day and know I was a 24-year-old kid who was raising concerns about how we were approaching things, and they were not listened to, they were not respected. And then what happened happened. And by all accounts, it was all pretty gotten away with, I would say, as well,” he said.
“At the end of the day, in these spaces, you have your own back, and that’s the most you can rely on,” he said. “I know the person I am, and the character I bring to set, and the way I treat people and the way that I treat a workspace, and I know I’m not difficult. I know I’m not an asshole. I know I was trying to protect myself that day, and so I’ve just never forgotten that. That’s always rung true as being the thing to hold with me.”