An interview with Thomas McDonell for The 100

24 June 2014

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How would you describe your character in The 100?

Finn is a very independent guy. Most of the time, he does what he wants to do; he doesn’t let other people get in his way – and yet he also seems to pay a lot of attention to what’s happening around him. He looks very closely at everything. For example, a lot of fighting breaks out when the 100 first arrive on Earth. Finn literally watches everything from above as the action is unfolding. It’s an interesting quality that he has; he’s a looker. He’s an observer.

What do you like about Finn?

What do I like about him? The one thing I like about him above all is the fact that he’s unpredictable. Finn is a really, really unpredictable guy and it’s fun to play that as an actor because it affords you a lot of space to be able to do whatever you want to do.

What else can you tell us about Finn?

I guess ‘unpredictable’ is a pretty broad way of describing a character. I should add that he’s 18 years old and he’s a juvenile delinquent – but the thing that’s most interesting to me is that he goes his own way and he does what he wants.

Do you think Finn will become a leader of the juveniles on Earth?

When we meet him on Earth, I think he’s already an unofficial leader. He’s a bit of a hero to the other people; the rest of the 100 already look up to him because of the crimes that he committed. There’s a rebellious thing that people admire about him. I think that will remain. When they arrive on Earth for the first time, they are dropped in the wrong place. Their immediate problem is to figure out how to get the stuff they need to survive, which is located on another part of Earth. Finn is the person who says, “Let’s go.” In that simple way, he’s leading the expedition. He’s the one who takes the action. Octavia [played by Marie Avgeropoulos] helps him, and is more and more helpful in that way. Maybe they’ll become an even better team together?

What attracted you to the role in the first place?

The character of Finn was the big attraction for me. That was the number one thing that appealed to me. I really liked the idea of playing this unpredictable character that is able to do whatever he wants. He’s a physical guy, too. That’s very fun for me to play, although I was also attracted to the genre. The whole story takes place in this futuristic time period. It’s a science fiction zone and I am really interested in the themes of space and the relationship that people have with the planet.

How much input do you have into the character?

I worked on the character with the producers and the writers of The 100. Finn is there already, he was written out in the script – but it felt like if I ever wanted to do something different or make a change to the character, I could. Once we locked him in or got an idea about what he was going to be, we pretty much agreed on it and there was not a lot of changing. To play an unpredictable character, anything can happen, so there’s still a lot of uncertainty with him.

On sci-fi shows like The 100, there are usually big, surprising reveals about the characters every week. As an actor, would you prefer to know more about your character’s future? Or do you prefer to learn about it as it appears in the script?

That’s a good question. It’s really useful to know about the past, but to know about the future is less practical and useful. I guess I don’t mind not knowing about his future as we continue to build the story and get new ideas based on what we do. To me, that’s cool. I think it’s better to be flexible and build something as we make it.

What can you tell us about Finn’s future?

In the future, I think there will be beef and there will be romance. I think that Finn and Clarke [played by Eliza Taylor] will probably get along more and more – and maybe he will not get along with other people.

Are we going to meet his parents at some point?

When it comes to some of the characters on the show, we know a lot about their lives and their parents – but Finn remains mysterious. All you know about him is the fact that he was locked up for a crime. That’s it. We’ll learn more as the show moves forward, though.

Is it true that you were initially reluctant to read the pilot script?

I guess that’s pretty true. I’ve done a few movies, but it didn’t really occur to me that I’d want to work in television. I really liked working on movies; I was having a good time with them and I wanted to work on more of them – but then I discovered the way that there’s something really different about working on TV. I wanted to experience that.

Did you attend a lot of auditions and chemistry reads to win the role?

There was some of that stuff, but it was more about pulling people from a lot of different and diverse places. People often talk about chemistry reads like they are really important and everyone is cast around them – but I’m not so sure. With this show, the characters are thrust into a situation with unfamiliar people, so you’re new to everyone in the group anyway.

How do you think you would handle life as one of the 100 juveniles sent to Earth?

Well, I’m good at camping, so that might help. However, I’m not sure I’m THAT good at camping. The thing about these guys is, when they arrive on Earth it’s the first time for everybody. In some ways, they have the necessary skills to deal with everything – but in other ways they don’t. That’s something that’s supposed to be fun to watch in the show, to see them figuring out life on Earth. Personally, I think I could probably deal with it. You know what? Breathing real air for the first time must be really cool!

ENDS.