Dylan O’Brien bounces back from injury to finish ‘Maze Runner’

Dylan O’Brien, who stars in this week’s third and final “Maze Runner” adventure, the title “The Death Cure” is perhaps too apt.

O’Brien, 26, was nearly killed filming “Death Cure.”

In March 2016, while filming in Vancouver, a motorcycle stunt went wrong. As the “Teen Wolf” actor was being pulled from the vehicle, he was reportedly struck by another car and suffered a concussion, fractures to the right side of his face and brain trauma.

Production was (obviously) suspended. Only after seven months of recovery and surgery could O’Brien return to work.

“I was in a really tough place. I had to push through to come back,” O’Brien said. “I’m just happy and grateful to be OK.”

O’Brien’s upwardly mobile career began with being cast as the goofy sidekick Stiles on MTV’s “Teen Wolf” series.

“I was just this kid who was out of high school, who had never really acted before. I tried auditioning and got a lead part (on ‘Teen Wolf’). I had to learn what I was doing in front of the camera.

“Along the way, I fell in love with acting, and I learned one important lesson: Never take yourself too seriously, but take the work seriously.”

“The Maze Runner,” a dystopian young adult thriller, was a sleeper 2014 hit and spawned the 2015 sequel “The Scorch Trials.”

O’Brien takes pride in his character Thomas’ evolution through the trilogy.

“When we first met him, he was just this scared and vulnerable kid. He was like this little animal in a cage.

“It has been such a cool coming-of-age arc for this kid to discover that he has the drive to become a leader. He can get these other kids out of danger. Of course, it means a lot of responsibility and wear and tear.

“Thomas takes every loss personally. That’s why we find a weathered guy in the third film. But he’s not quitting. He’s still going to protect the group.”

As for ending not just his big-screen franchise but, after six seasons, “Teen Wolf” too, O’Brien is philosophical.

“It’s a case of ‘you can’t go home again’ and definitely bittersweet. But mainly sweet, because these roles happened. I’ll always have these memories and these friends. That’s a win-win.”