It’s hard not to look at a young adult book-to-film adaptation without just assuming it’ll have yet another lame love triangle because there’s no denying that most certainly do. However, while talking to Rosa Salazar at SXSW for her new movie Night Owls, she insisted that Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials will be different.

There’s certainly a strong connection between Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) in The Maze Runner, but in The Scorch Trials, Teresa’s no longer the sole female hanging out with the Gladers. The group also meets Brenda (Salazar), a young woman trying to survive The Scorch. In Dashner’s book there’s a good deal of tension between the three, but will that be the case in Wes Ball’s film version as well? Here’s what Salazar said:

“It’s not so much love triangle-y, but it kind of is. Like, you could describe it that way.”

She continued:

“Kaya Scodelario is like really smart and we got together with Wes, the director of that one, and we’re just like, ‘We don’t want this to be some like cheesy ass love triangle.’ Because it can be more subtle than that. Everything is described in what he chooses to do and that’s the whole point of Maze Runner and so when he chooses to come after me instead of [going] down the shaft with her, it’s already there. He doesn’t need to say, ‘Ah, I’m leaving Teresa behind.’ It’s more like, he chose and then that’s where all of the feelings will come from.”

So it sounds like Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials will indeed have a love triangle, but it will feel a bit more natural than most. That certainly sounds like the appropriate way to approach it, but after Teresa’s romance with Thomas got nixed in the first film, I’m still wondering how Ball and his team will build it up fast enough so that Brenda’s arrival feels like a real threat in Scorch Trials.

You can catch the clip of Salazar discussing Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials below and be sure to keep an eye out for my full chat with her, Adam Pally and director Charles Hood on Night Owls coming soon.