Note: This post contains spoilers for The CW’s The 100.
To say that season 3 of The 100 has been crazy would be an understatement. In fact, things have been 100% insane in the membrane since the show returned back in January. If you’ve been following along with our own Sydney Bucksbaum‘s recaps, you know how true that sentiment is. Understandably, we had a ton of questions for the cast and creator of the show during their WonderCon pressroom. How is Clarke going to deal with losing Lexa? Will Jasper and Monty ever get back to BFF status? What’s on the pipeline for Raven?
While we will still have to see all of those things play out, we got a bit more insight after chatting with Eliza Taylor (Clarke), Lindsey Morgan (Raven), Richard Harmon (Murphy), Bob Morley (Bellamy), Devon Bostick (Jasper), Christopher Larkin (Monty), and showrunner Jason Rothenberg.
First up is Murphy. Will he continue on the so-called redemption arc? Richard Harmon is of the opinion that he “never thought he needed redemption. He stated, “What I will confirm about Murphy is that we will continue to learn about him as a character, who he is inside, and what his morals are.”
But, will he ever choose a side? According to Harmon, it’s a possibility. “Murphy might choose a side. But, if he ever did choose a side, I think it would come from him looking after himself. If a tribe assured him that he would be okay if he joined them, he’d take it.”
Ever since Lexa’s death in “Thirteen,” the idea of losing characters has been on a lot of people’s minds. Harmon, for instance, said that if that’s in the cards for Murphy, he hopes he’s told ahead of time so he can prepare. But, at the end of the day, he’s got other things on his mind. He noted, “Honestly I usually just worry about whether I’m good enough to pull off what they give me. Jason has given me some pretty hard scenes to do over the last couple of seasons, so when I read scripts, I’m invigorated by learning what I’ll be doing.”
Speaking of Lexa’s death, Eliza Taylor explained that Clarke isn’t going to have time to deal with her grief. “Obviously she’s grieving, there’s no way around that, but in this next episode, she is going to be faced with Ontari coming back.” She continued, “She’s had to figure out a way to deal with Lexa and move on with this very important matter.” (Ontari, you’ll remember, is Queen Nia’s Nightblood.)
“I think the one thing I’m really happy about, is the fact that she has to believe that Lexa is in this AI. She does, she truly believes that she’s in there. As long as she keeps this safe, she’s got her.”
Obviously, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the death, which Taylor admitted was something that had worried her. “Of course I was worried, but all we could do was make it the best that we could with the script that we were given. I know fans are really upset about her going, but she died in my arms and we both crossed a threshold acting-wise; that was a hard day. We went to a scary place, but I’m grateful for the experience.”
We’re also going to see Bellamy navigating trying times. Bob Morley noted, “It was about him finding peace and redemption about what he did in season one. So I felt like in season two, he goes on a suicide mission and puts himself at risk because he feels like he owes it to them. He’s back on that same front where he thinks they need to live this way and make aggressive actions in order to establish our lifestyle. That’s why Pike’s ideologies aligned with Bellamy’s. As the season goes along he’ll be challenged with bigger questions than just his actions, so it will be interesting to see how he deals with that.”
On Bellamy’s role as leader, Morley explained, “I don’t necessarily think that Bellamy had that taste of leadership in season one. As someone who is older than the other delinquents, he felt like it was his responsibility to take care of them. You have to understand that he was the only one out of the delinquents that has actually raised a child. He has a different perspective on life than any of those kids have had. So he does have that responsibility but I don’t necessarily think he wants to be a leader. He needs that guidance like Clarke and Pike, he’ll do what he needs to, and if that means he’s a leader then so be it.”
But, he stated “I don’t think he sees himself as a figurehead, he’s just trying to do what’s right.”
Raven’s arc has been equally as treacherous. Now that she’s taken the chip to rid herself of her physical and emotional pain, she’s put a potentially temporary bandaid on her wounds. Lindsey Morgan elaborated, “It’s human to want to feel happy, and to want to feel better, and forget your problems. She drank as much as she could and can’t really run away from anything. Now she’s reaching through this as a new way to cope.”
But, the chip can only numb the pain for so long. According to Morgan, Raven will struggle with the fact that she took the chip, and will try to figure out how to “get out of it.” “You’re going to see both me, as an actress, and Raven, as a character, get tested in ways you’ve never seen before. As far as the rollercoaster goes, it gets a hell of a lot faster.”
“That’s the big choice Raven has to make as far as what she should do. Because of who I am and what I’ve been through I took this chip to run away and escape myself. But then when she got so far away, she realized she made the wrong turn, and now it’s the journey back to what she left. That’s a question too as far as, ‘can I get back there,’ and if I do, what does that entail? For Raven, that comes with the pain in her body, her leg and everything she went through. It’s a big choice; Just like taking the chip was a choice out of desperation, getting rid of it (even if she can, because it’s infused in her brain now) is a big question. You’re definitely going to see a big change for Raven.”
After locating his mother, Monty is certainly dealing with a struggle of his own. Larkin noted, “Obviously now that Kane and Sinclair have been imprisoned because of Monty following his mother, it’s very tricky because he has an allegiance to the 100 after everything they’ve been through over the past five months. But, his mother raised him. That’s 15 years. So it’s very difficult. Even if she’s on the wrong side of history, he doesn’t want to abandon her, especially now that her husband/his father is dead as well. Hopefully they’ll be able to figure things out. It won’t be easy.”
“Monty is finally finidng his own sense of agency and acting for himself instead of for Clarke, for Jasper, for his mother–what does he want? I think that’s something I’m discovering as we move forward.”
On top of his mama drama, Monty is also dealing with his fallout with Jasper. He explained, “I think in Monty’s eyes that’s Jasper’s move at this point. He put his heart on the line at the end of 304, Jasper crushed it, and he’s done everything he can. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to help themselves, and I think he fully realizes that now. So, it is Jasper’s initiative if he wants to repair the relationship. I think right now Monty’s more concerned with what’s going on in Arkadia. They’re a bit distracted at the moment.”
As for whether he wanted to see Monty in a relationship somewhere down the line, Larkin stated, “I hope so, I think it’s a big part of growing up. I also hope he gets his heart crushed. I think your first heartbreak is more important actually, because you have the optimism and then you have the realism.”
“I love where Jasper’s going. I think its so true to see him going through the PTSD,” said Bostick while he was discussing Jasper. “It’s nice to see somebody really processing everything that’s happened.”
Bostick has a slightly different take on the conflict with Monty. He explained, “It’s interesting, it’s hard not to blame Monty for the death of Maya. It pains Jasper deeply. I don’t think he understands that Monty was just doing what had to be done. It’s difficult. They had the big blowout and I think now they’re just going to take some space from each other but hopefully they can both learn to except the things that happen. It’s going to be an interesting journey. I love that we’re seeing Jonty go through all the stages of friendship and also grief. Hopefully they get back together though because nothing makes me happier than seeing them together.”
Luckily, he had a leg up on preparing to bring a character suffering from PTSD to life, because of a previous project he was working on. He explained, “The main thing I brought into Jasper this year is his inability to make contact with a lot of people. I didnt want to feel completely disconnected and reliving this horrendous day over and over again. He’s left alone to his own thoughts while everyone is off doing crazy missions. The main thing is being consumed by that day. As he’s given this distraction by Raven (ie a mission to kill AL.I.E.), its giving him something that takes away from his thoughts for a moment. We’re going to be seeing pieces of Jasper that we used to see before. Hopefully he’ll be coming out of this shellshock.”
“I think the main thing is this parallel between Raven and Finn, Jasper and Maya. Yes, he wants to forget the image of Maya dying in his arms, but is it worth getting rid of all the good memories? Do the bad memories make you who you are? Am I going to get lost even more down in the city of light? I think the good memories hopefully outweigh the bad.”
“I think he is going to go through a lot to ever be who he once was.”
“We’ve now reached the point in the season where all roads lead to the flame.” teased Jason Rothenberg. “The thing that came out of Lexa’s head really is the MacGuffin. Everybody wants it, The new commander is going to need it to ascend. Clarke wants to make sure the right person gets it to carry on Lexa’s legacy, and make sure her people don’t get wiped out by whoever gets it next. A.L.I.E. has been looking for it for 100 years.”
On tonight’s episode, he noted, “It has a lot of things in it that will be very hard to watch, but its a very special episode in many ways. But the story of the flame from the Arkadia side of it is taking a week off. It isn’t until 10 that it really ramps up again.”
Are you excited to see what happens on The 100? Let us know in the comments!
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Image Credit: The CW
