An interview with executive producer, Matthew Miller, for The 100

24 June 2014

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How tough was the audition process for The 100?

The audition process was really, really hard. It was an arduous process. Some of the roles got filled very quickly and we found the right people for them straight away. Henry Ian Cusick and Isaiah Washington were cast very early on, but we had quite a bit of trouble finding an actress to play Clarke. Eventually, we found Eliza Taylor. We were told she was only interested in pursuing a movie career, but we were very excited to sign her to the show. We also had a tough time getting Thomas McDonell to sign up for The 100 – but [creator and executive producer] Jason Rothenberg was adamant that he was right for the role. You never really know how the cast will work together until you start shooting, but they all had such great chemistry from the start. We were very lucky.

The audience can spot flags from a number of different countries on the Ark. Are we going to see a variety of cultures in space?

The truth is this, when the 12 space stations were brought together 100 years ago, there were 12 different cultures. There were many different languages and multiple ethnicities – but after 100 years, it’s become a melting pot. It’s become one country and we chose to have them with one accent, which is the American accent. We’ll see different ethnicities represented in the cast and the extras – and you’ll see a variety of cultures represented in many different ways. You’ll see the American flag in one scene; you’ll see Chinese writing in another scene. You’ll see these different ethnicities throughout the Ark.

Do you think different languages would exist on the Ark after 100 years?

In reality, you don’t have the accent that your grandparents have. You adapt to your own society – and this is after three generations on the Ark. In reality, they would’ve probably amalgamated or blended their accents and languages – but we felt like English was the easiest language for our audience to grasp.

In the pilot episode of The 100, the characters appear to be very clean and healthy, and the Ark isn’t dilapidated or run down – but it’s supposed to be on its last legs. Are we going to see their intergalactic world a little more distressed in future episodes?

I think you’re right and I think our inclination is to go more in that direction. Anytime you’re building a world – where you have to create the wardrobe and the hair and everything from scratch, it’s not like the costume designer can go to Macy’s and pick outfits off the rack. You’re designing everything. At the same time, our creative instinct is to go a lot grittier with the actors, the wardrobe and the hair, as well as on Ark. The spaceship is dying. And I think in the series that’s why you’re going to see an extra layer of grime. That’s a good observation and one that will be addressed as the series moves forward.

Is it true that you’re not afraid to kill off key characters in the show?

We need to feel like there are real-world stakes in the show and that characters can die – and important characters can die. You want those life and death stakes. On the ground, there will be main characters that are killed in these first 13 episodes. Hopefully, they will be killed in a very surprising way – but the beauty of having 100 kids on the ground and thousands on the Ark is the fact that we can introduce new characters all the time.

A key character dies in the very first episode… Was that tough on the actor and the cast?

The idea behind that death was always to cast somebody that the audience would love. It needed to hurt to see them go. We didn’t want it feel like it was an extraneous character that you could figure out we would kill. We wanted it to be surprising.

It’s very similar to the killing of characters on Game of Thrones…

You’re right. I honestly think it’s surprising when something like that happens. It says to people, ‘Going forward, these writers are willing to take chances with the storytelling.’ It’s those kinds of shocking and surprising moments that we want to sprinkle throughout the whole season.

Lost was a sci-fi show that received a lot of criticism for taking their time with the mythology. In the post-Lost world, do you feel pressure to roll out the mythology with speed?

I think Lost was informative and inspirational in a number of ways. It felt like Lost found the show they wanted to make as they went along. Well, we’ve seen the show we want to make from the very beginning, so we know the story we want to tell. I feel like Lost was great at reshuffling the deck between seasons. We want to look at each season as its own story – and then we want to think about how we are going to top that in the following season. There’s a game changer at the end of the pilot and we’re hoping to have those game changers throughout the season and certainly in the final episode of the season. We want people to think, ‘I never saw that coming.’ We want the game changer to pave the way for a whole new season – and to keep that ball rolling, which is something they did very well on Lost.

Which aspects of The 100 do you hope will resonate with audiences the most?

You never know what’s going to happen with a show until it airs. All you can do is try your best to make the show in the best possible way – and then hope that it will connect with an audience. The concept of The 100 is fabulous and we’ve got a fantastic cast. Ideally, there will also be great storylines and an intriguing way of bringing the audience to this world. It will be riveting, but I think you’ll tune into The 100 because you love the people on the show. You don’t want to see the journey alone, but you want to see the characters go through the journey. We're hoping people will connect with the characters and want to see how it all plays out.

ENDS.