also while we're on the topic of the maze runner. james dashner will forever be iconic for randomly deciding one day that newt can be gay and no i don't see it as the same as jkr's random twitter announcements abt characters and here's why.
when jkr was asked if any of her characters could be interpreted as queer (and this was before she turned out to be a rampant transphobe btw) she literally picked the person who it would have to least impact on in terms of plot relevance and character arcs and claimed that she wrote him as gay all along.
but when james dashner was asked whether one of his actual main characters and arguably the emotional heart of his entire franchise is literally in gay love with the protagonist he says "yeah sure lol idc"
like say what you want but those two things simply aren't the same for me and even if he didn't write explicit queer representation into his books i will always applaud him for his willingness to actually let his books be interpreted in different ways without being afraid that it might change things.
and yeah maybe that doesn't deserve praise exactly but i also think he was dragged way too much for it like come on we can at least admit that it was funny
