An interview with Jason Rothenberg for Season 2 of The 100

8 December 2014

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What are the main themes of Season 2?

Reunions are a key storyline in Season 2. Everybody is scattered, so they are all trying to figure out ways to get back to their people and to get back together. Obviously, Clarke’s mother – Abby – is on the ground now and they are a lot closer together – but whether that reunion happens or not will have to be seen. There are multiple stories unfolding together that are hopefully converging. That’s what the season feels like.

Will the Ark play a major role in Season Two?

Sadly, the Ark is almost done. One of the things I loved about the show was the fact that we had the spaceship. I’m going to miss it. Personally, I’m going to miss the space element of the show a lot, but we have Mount Weather now. Mount Weather feels a lot like an underground spaceship anyway. We’ll have a similar cutting device where we can cut from the wild, untamed Earth to this claustrophobic environment of Mount Weather, which is really what the ship was last year.

Was it always in your plans to have the Ark return to Earth at the end of Season 1?

No, it wasn’t. When we started the first season, my idea for the Season 1 finale was to have an Exodus ship crash into the ground at the end. Clarke thinks her mother is on that Exodus ship, so she thinks her mother is dead. That was my end point for Season 1, but then one of our writers – whose name is Bruce Miller – said, “Why don’t we bring the whole thing down at the end of the season? We don’t need the Ark anymore. They know the Earth is survival; they’re not going to stay up there very long.” At first I said, “Are you crazy? We built the Ark. It’s expensive. I love the Ark!” And then I started thinking about it and I realised, ‘You know what? It’s a great idea.’ It’s a ‘leave it all on the field’ idea. We didn’t know if we were going to get a second season, so we wanted to tell the best story we could.

Will any of the characters be safe in Season 2?

I think we get too much credit for killing characters. We didn’t really kill that many important characters last year. We treat violence in a real way, so if somebody gets shot, you know that it’s going to leave a mark. You also know that it’s going to be a while until they are fully recovered from it and it’ll probably have some kind of psychological scar, too. Devon got speared in the pilot and he’s still scarred from that, emotionally. That said, this year, no one is safe. I feel like we got too much credit last year, so this year I need to earn it.

How far in advance do you warn an actor if they are being killed off in the show?

I’m a nice guy. If we are going to do something like that, we would talk to the person in advance. The whole idea is not to let it leak. I’m only doing that because I know if I was a fan of the show and I read online about a character’s death, I would be unhappy. The die-hard fans of the show are the people I want to protect against spoilers.

Will there be more flashback scenes in Season 2?

I hope so. Flashbacks are a tool that we have used in the show before; something we could go to again. I think that it’s particularly effective in episode six of Season 1 with Bellamy. Everybody hated him; he was selfish. Then episode six told us who he was. After that, you could like him. That was really key for that character’s development last year.

Are there any characters in particular you would like to delve into in Season 2?

I'm not sure that anybody else is really misunderstood to the level of needing a, ‘OK everybody, here’s what the story is.’ But there are certain people, like Murphy, who I feel was underserved as a character last year. This year, we’re going to start to peel back the layers to understand him and figure out there’s a reason why he’s the way he is. When people hear his story – and it’s not a flashback – they will sympathise. They can never trust him, but maybe they can understand him. That’s the goal of it anyway.

There’s such a large cast of interesting characters in The 100. How do you decide who is going to be featured?

That’s one of the hardest aspects of working on The 100. We added two characters that are series regulars this year, Lindsey Morgan, who plays Raven and Ricky Whittle, who plays Lincoln. My favourite show currently is Game of Thrones. There are storylines in that show that they don’t visit in every episode. That’s how you do it. It’s a really heavy episode for one character this week, and then she’s gone next week.

Is there one character in particular that you enjoy writing for?

I love all these characters. Honestly, there’s nobody I don’t love writing for. I particularly love writing for Eliza Taylor [who plays Clarke] as an actress because she’s so good. Anything I write, she shows me what it really means. I think Raven is a really fun character to write, too. She’s always got the right thing to say. From a plot perspective, she’s MacGyver-esque. She can build things and do things, and that’s always helpful when you’re trying to figure out how to get out of the situation as a writer. But I like them all. I really do.

What can you tell us about the first episode of Season 2 of The 100? Where does the action pick up?

We pick up the story of Season 2 in the white room where we last saw Clarke. We see her through surveillance camera footage. She’s noticing that her father’s watch is missing and she’s still confused about where she is. She looks at the painting on the wall, “What is that? Why is that here?” She then looks through the window and she sees a person in a HASMAT suit walk by – and it’s a very scary moment.

What happens next?

Clarke notices Monty’s room and that it’s empty. She freaks out, “Where’s Monty?” She grabs something and she breaks the surveillance camera. She then breaks the window and she reaches through the broken glass to unlock the door. On her way out, she rips her arm open, so she’s dripping blood everywhere. And then she goes out into the hallway and she picks up a piece of glass. That’s when she takes the person in the HASMAT suit hostage. She rips off her hostage’s suit and the girl is freaking out, “Oh my God… I can’t believe it. I’m going to be contaminated!” And then Clarke takes her hostage and says, “Take to me to my friend now or I’m going to slice your throat.” We really get to see how Clarke has changed. She’s a warrior now. She overcomes this girl completely. Clarke totally decimates her. And that’s how we start the season.

ENDS.