This Could Have Been the Ending of ‘The 100’ in Season 5

August 05, 2019

The CW announced that the upcoming seventh season of The 100 would be it’s last. Creator Jason Rothenberg decided to end the show, joining CW series Arrow and Supernatural among CW shows ending on their own terms. The 100 began with a group of young colonists returning to Earth after humanity evacuated the planet. They’ve survived in fighting, grounders, the return of the parents and another apocalypse in seven seasons.

Eliza Taylor in The 100 — The 100 — “The Blood of Sanctum” — Pictured (L-R): Jessica Harmon as Niylah and Eliza Taylor as Clarke| Sergei Bachlakov/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

Rothenberg and producer Kim Shumway were at the CW’s party for the Television Critics Association. They spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet about the final season of The 100 and how it almost ended in season 5. The 100 airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on The CW.

The last two seasons of ‘The 100’ have been a bonus

It may be sad to say goodbye to The 100 but be glad you’re getting seven seasons. Rothenberg almost ended it earlier.

The 100 Creator Jason Rothenberg — Jason Rothenberg attends the ‘The 100’ press line during WonderCon 2019 | Paul Butterfield/Getty Images

“I had an idea about two years ago what would be a good ending,” Rothenberg said. “We wrote past it, but we came up with another idea that I thought was definitive and at some point when you tell a serialized story that’s as clearly serialized as this, you just have to go out when you’re still telling good story.”

Where ‘The 100’ almost ended in season 5

The end of season 5 opened up the doors for season 6 when The 100 had to evacuate Earth once again. That could have ended in a much more definitive way.

“Well, blowing up the planet basically,” Rothenberg said. “Like going to another planet was a good sort of audible that I think reinvigorated the show, but it could have ended with the second apocalypse at some point”

‘The 100’ almost ended very tragically

Shumway would have given The 100 a tragic ending had season 5 been the series finale.

“We call it a post-apocalyptic tragedy for a reason and tragedies only end one way,” Shumway said.

Tasya Teles and Bob Morley — The 100 — “Adjustment Protocol” — Pictured (L-R): Tasya Teles as Echo and Bob Morley as Bellamy | Sergei Bachlakov/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

Rothenberg razzed her. “She would have everyone die,” he said. “Kim has always wanted to kill them all. We call her Bloody Shumway. Shumway, Bloody Shumway.”

The ending of ‘The 100’ may not be happy, but it will define the show

Now Rothenberg has a new plan for the series finale of The 100.

The 100 — “Matryoshka” — Pictured: Lindsey Morgan as Raven | Diyah Pera/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

“The ending of the show is going to be epic and emotional and right in tone with what we’ve been doing all along,” Rothenberg said. “Endings of any story are essentially what that story is about. We sat down this year to come up with what do we want to leave behind and what do we want the show to say when we’re done? That’s about as much as I’ll talk about it but we’ve been writing it as if it was that for a while. The network only told us on Friday.”

The season 6 finale of ‘The 100’ tees up the final seasons, like all season finales have

The season finale of season 6 ends in a cliffhanger, in typical The 100 fashion. Viewers will get a glimpse of what season 7 will be about then.

The 100 season finale — The 100 — “The Blood of Sanctum” — Pictured (L-R): JR Bourne as Russell VII, Lola Flanery as Madi and Eliza Taylor as Clarke | ergei Bachlakov/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

“We end on a major cliffhanger so it’s a good thing we got renewed,” Shumway said. “But seriously, we try to end every season starting the next season, giving a clue as to where we’re going. So we did that this year as well. So it will definitely tell everyone where we’re going although I think people will be very surprised about the direction this takes.”

The cast of ‘The 100’ was ready to wrap up

Eliza Taylor, Bob Morley, Lindsey Morgan, Richard Harmon, Marie Avgeropoulos and the rest of The 100 ensemble is ready to say goodbye. That doesn’t mean it will be easy.

“It’s bittersweet,” . Everybody got a lot out of the show. It’s a long run. They’re all champing at the bit to d other things and they will for sure. We’ll have another seven months to be together and try to create the ending the show deserves. Bittersweet is the word of the day.

Who ends up together at the end of ‘The 100’ isn’t the point

Fans of The 100 followed the relationships of Clarke, Bellamy, Raven, Octavia and everyone as they came together and got torn apart. Shumway suggests the final season will end with some final pairings, but that’s not really what The 100 is about.

“You know, we’ve never really oriented the show as a show about romance,” Shumway said. “It’s got relationships of all kind but it’s never, for us, been about who’s going to end up with who? So people will end up with who they end up with but that’s never been our [focus]. It’s really about what the message of the show is and where these characters land.”