by Hayley Charlesworth and Leah Stone
Season Two of The 100 started on E4 last week. For those out of the loop, the show explores the post-apocalyptic genre; in the aftermath of a nuclear war, humans fled to space. But with their space station, the Ark, failing, they send 100 teenagers, locked up for crimes they have committed, to Earth to see if it is habitable. Headed by Jason Rothenberg, The 100 has already reaped a large school of fans whilst being praised for it's action and rounded characters!
And lucikly, I'm With Geek were able to sit down with the creator, executive producer and writer of the show to give us his thoughts on Season Two and where the show is heading!
Season Two of The 100 started on E4 last week. For those out of the loop, the show explores the post-apocalyptic genre; in the aftermath of a nuclear war, humans fled to space. But with their space station, the Ark, failing, they send 100 teenagers, locked up for crimes they have committed, to Earth to see if it is habitable. Headed by Jason Rothenberg, The 100 has already reaped a large school of fans whilst being praised for it's action and rounded characters!
And lucikly, I'm With Geek were able to sit down with the creator, executive producer and writer of the show to give us his thoughts on Season Two and where the show is heading!
Congratulations on the renewal for season three!
We got renewed? Yes, thank you very much, I appreciate that. It’s obviously exciting.
Is it going to be a full season run of roughly 24 episodes?
First of all, they haven’t told us anything; when it’s going to be on, how many episodes the order is, but I can pretty much guarantee it won’t be 24 because that’s not the way we’re doing the show. We’re doing the show much more in the sort of cable model where it’s a short-ish run. 16, 14 episodes, in that area.
With Clarke becoming a leader, Bellamy seems almost like her right-hand man. What can we expect from his character in the future episodes?
That’s a good point. It’s funny, in episode nine there’s a story between Lexa, the Commander, and her right-hand man whose name is Gustus, and there’s a very intentional parallel drawn between those two characters and between Bellamy and Clarke in that episode. But without giving too much away, I can say Bellamy’s character gets very much activated in the bigger story in the back half of the season. He has a huge role to play, and that won’t necessarily be with Clarke, in terms of sharing story space.
One of the biggest surprises from the first episode of season 2 was the revelation that Jaha was still alive on the Ark, followed by his crash landing on Earth. How can we expect his return to the ground to affect the storyline in Camp Jaha?
Yes, we will see that play out. We will see Jaha try to figure out what his new role is going to be on the ground and in the camp that bears his name. He will do something that really splits his story again in an interesting and very surprising way, and it becomes a huge vehicle for the rest of the season and beyond.
There have been a lot of high-profile deaths in the show so far. Looking back, are there any characters that you regret killing off?
No. It’s sad, and it’s hard for the audience, but I think that’s a good thing. I think it’s good when people experience that loss, and what it really does is it makes you feel like anybody can go at any time, so then you experience the drama as if it’s real and you don’t sit there watching it and say to yourself “that guy’s never gonna die in this episode because he’s one of the stars of the show” and so we don’t have that problem. Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead do that amazingly well, it’s not like we’re breaking ground on this, but maybe we are in terms of broadcast television. It makes the world and the stakes feel real. I don’t regret it creatively. I love what Wells’ death in episode three of season one did for us. I think that was a good creative decision. There would have been interesting stories to tell with those characters if they had been around, but the loss of those characters impacts the remaining people in ways that I think is positive in terms of the ledger. We get more than we lose from it.
We got renewed? Yes, thank you very much, I appreciate that. It’s obviously exciting.
Is it going to be a full season run of roughly 24 episodes?
First of all, they haven’t told us anything; when it’s going to be on, how many episodes the order is, but I can pretty much guarantee it won’t be 24 because that’s not the way we’re doing the show. We’re doing the show much more in the sort of cable model where it’s a short-ish run. 16, 14 episodes, in that area.
With Clarke becoming a leader, Bellamy seems almost like her right-hand man. What can we expect from his character in the future episodes?
That’s a good point. It’s funny, in episode nine there’s a story between Lexa, the Commander, and her right-hand man whose name is Gustus, and there’s a very intentional parallel drawn between those two characters and between Bellamy and Clarke in that episode. But without giving too much away, I can say Bellamy’s character gets very much activated in the bigger story in the back half of the season. He has a huge role to play, and that won’t necessarily be with Clarke, in terms of sharing story space.
One of the biggest surprises from the first episode of season 2 was the revelation that Jaha was still alive on the Ark, followed by his crash landing on Earth. How can we expect his return to the ground to affect the storyline in Camp Jaha?
Yes, we will see that play out. We will see Jaha try to figure out what his new role is going to be on the ground and in the camp that bears his name. He will do something that really splits his story again in an interesting and very surprising way, and it becomes a huge vehicle for the rest of the season and beyond.
There have been a lot of high-profile deaths in the show so far. Looking back, are there any characters that you regret killing off?
No. It’s sad, and it’s hard for the audience, but I think that’s a good thing. I think it’s good when people experience that loss, and what it really does is it makes you feel like anybody can go at any time, so then you experience the drama as if it’s real and you don’t sit there watching it and say to yourself “that guy’s never gonna die in this episode because he’s one of the stars of the show” and so we don’t have that problem. Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead do that amazingly well, it’s not like we’re breaking ground on this, but maybe we are in terms of broadcast television. It makes the world and the stakes feel real. I don’t regret it creatively. I love what Wells’ death in episode three of season one did for us. I think that was a good creative decision. There would have been interesting stories to tell with those characters if they had been around, but the loss of those characters impacts the remaining people in ways that I think is positive in terms of the ledger. We get more than we lose from it.
The storyline in the books is very different to the TV show. Are the changes down to the fact that they are being released simultaneously?
When I started working on the first season, there was no book. There was a concept that was pitched to me initially and I read an outline for the book. I was given free range to do whatever I wanted. There are five or six characters that didn’t exist in the book at the time. I haven’t read the second or third book yet, so I’m not sure what’s happening in the books at this point. We’re not beholden to the written word of the book the way a show like Game of Thrones is, where those books are treasured for years by people. These books are being generated at the same time that the show is. Maybe they’re steering the books in the same direction of the show in certain instances. There are things that we created for the show that, if they are in the books, it was done the other way around. If there’s something that they do in the book that’s cool, that I like, then we’ll definitely use it, I wouldn’t rule it out. Similarly, if there are characters in the books that we’re not using that I like, you could definitely see them showing up in the show. I see some people on Twitter saying “well, this happened in the books, so screw you for not doing it”, and I feel like “thanks for telling me this happens in the book and I’m glad it’s a good experience for you, but these are two different things.”
Finally, can Murphy ever be redeemed?
I don’t know. Does a leopard change its spots? I think if he can accept what he’s done and make amends for it, he can potentially be redeemed. I believe in redemption and forgiveness, and in people changing. Our goal this season wasn’t to redeem him but to understand him, to humanise him. I’m definitely proud about what we’ve done with Murphy and Richard (Harmon) is such a great actor, and I felt in season one we didn’t service him well, he was just kind of a douche, the evil guy who is twirling his moustache. That was our fault as writers, so this season I set out to really understand that character, and what made him that way. Now I think we see him differently. He’s got redemption probably in the eyes of many fans of the show, but he did murder people, and he feels justified in that because of what they did to him, but that will probably come back to bite him.
When I started working on the first season, there was no book. There was a concept that was pitched to me initially and I read an outline for the book. I was given free range to do whatever I wanted. There are five or six characters that didn’t exist in the book at the time. I haven’t read the second or third book yet, so I’m not sure what’s happening in the books at this point. We’re not beholden to the written word of the book the way a show like Game of Thrones is, where those books are treasured for years by people. These books are being generated at the same time that the show is. Maybe they’re steering the books in the same direction of the show in certain instances. There are things that we created for the show that, if they are in the books, it was done the other way around. If there’s something that they do in the book that’s cool, that I like, then we’ll definitely use it, I wouldn’t rule it out. Similarly, if there are characters in the books that we’re not using that I like, you could definitely see them showing up in the show. I see some people on Twitter saying “well, this happened in the books, so screw you for not doing it”, and I feel like “thanks for telling me this happens in the book and I’m glad it’s a good experience for you, but these are two different things.”
Finally, can Murphy ever be redeemed?
I don’t know. Does a leopard change its spots? I think if he can accept what he’s done and make amends for it, he can potentially be redeemed. I believe in redemption and forgiveness, and in people changing. Our goal this season wasn’t to redeem him but to understand him, to humanise him. I’m definitely proud about what we’ve done with Murphy and Richard (Harmon) is such a great actor, and I felt in season one we didn’t service him well, he was just kind of a douche, the evil guy who is twirling his moustache. That was our fault as writers, so this season I set out to really understand that character, and what made him that way. Now I think we see him differently. He’s got redemption probably in the eyes of many fans of the show, but he did murder people, and he feels justified in that because of what they did to him, but that will probably come back to bite him.
What do you think?
Are you excited for season two?
What are your predictions for the show?
Let us know in the comments!
And make sure you check out Part Two of this interview after episode eight for more 100 goodness!
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