Last November, MTV News got sent on a mission: to check out the Albuquerque, New Mexico set of "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials." We spent an entire, jaw-dropping day at an abandoned shopping mall with Dylan O'Brien, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and more -- but we couldn't say a word about it until today.

As of Monday (May 18), we're excited to reveal our behind-the-scenes look at "Scorch Trials," complete with your first look at the Gladers running for their lives from a brand new threat: disease-ridden humans called Cranks.

"At the end of the first film, the Gladers -- some of them make it out," O'Brien explained during a brief break from running his butt off. "Basically, what the Gladers find out is that the world has been essentially taken over by this virus; this disease called the Flare. It's basically like 'The Walking Dead' all of a sudden."

As Brodie-Sangster explained -- and as readers of James Dashner's hit book series already know -- the Gladers are thrown into this "Walking Dead"-like world pretty soon after the events of the first movie. And of course, those shady WCKD folks we met at the end of "Maze Runner" aren't as warm and fuzzy as they might have initially seemed.

"They're thrown into this world, and with these people that tell us certain things," he said. "We find out that those things aren't necessarily the truth, and it's all just a learning experience of trying to find out what the hell's going on in this place."

We can't tell you everything that's going on in the Scorch, but we can reveal that it involves a post-apocalyptic city, a couple of badass new characters played by Rosa Salazar ("The Divergent Series: Insurgent") and Giancarlo Esposito ("Breaking Bad"), and terrifying obstacles that make the Grievers look like Teletubbies.

"The book is insane, and we're bringing a lot of that to the movie," O'Brien said with a laugh. :It really just opens up the world with such a mystery in the first one. Of course, with what [director] Wes [Ball] does with it, it's even cooler. The movie is going to look amazing, with a little less pressure off of me."

Check out the rest of the set visit, above -- and get ready, because the first trailer for "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" will drop tomorrow (May 19) on ReadyForScorch.com.