The 100 Boss Talks [Spoiler]'s Finale Fate, Teases Big Final Season Mystery

Andy Swift

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The 100 has a long history of delivering mind-blowing finale cliffhangers (125-year time jump, anyone?), but Tuesday’s Season 6 ender managed to raise the bar yet again. Some might even call it… an anomaly.

TVLine spoke with showrunner Jason Rothenberg for some insight about that WTF ending, but first, a quick recap: After being exposed as not-Josephine, Clarke was forced to do the unthinkable, floating Simone (in Abby’s body!), along with several other Primes. Russell intended to exact his revenge by murdering Madi, but the Dark Commander-possessed tween caught him off guard with a collaboration he couldn’t refuse. Fortunately, Clarke was able to appeal to Madi’s emotional side, allowing her to break free of the Dark Commander’s control and save the day.

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Meanwhile, Bellamy and the others narrowly escaped a cleansing by fire as they fought to free the people of Sanctum from the Primes’ misguided leadership. Even the Blake siblings united (“side by side, like it was meant to be!”) for the cause.

Unfortunately, their victory (as always) was short-lived. Gabriel noticed that the tattoo on Octavia’s back contained some sort of password, which apparently enacted something called the “Anomaly Stone.” Once Octavia pressed the final symbol, the Anomaly seemingly exploded, engulfing the entire area in a bright green light. A young woman (grown-up Hope!) then entered the scene and appeared to stab Octavia, causing her to vanish amidst a cloud of Anomaly smoke. (Mind you, none of this is the correct terminology. We’re all in uncharted territory here.)

Below, Rothenberg answers a few of our burning questions about this insane finale, including how Bellamy will react to the inexplicable loss of his sister.

TVLINE | So, it’s safe to assume that the mystery of the Anomaly will be the focus of the final season?
Yes, that is safe to say. We’re going to be all up in that thing.

TVLINE | I know Hope said, “He still has my mom,” but I couldn’t make out what Octavia said right after that.
[Requests script] Octavia says, “Now be brave. Tell them it’s done.” … That reveal is obviously mind-blowing, and the fact that Hope is now in her early 20s when three days ago she was a fetus, does begin to imply some things about the Anomoly and about where we’re going.

TVLINE | Who’s the actress playing grown-up Hope?
Her name is Shelby Flannery, and she’s awesome. I’m fairly certain we were her first professional job. She’s just out of drama school, so she’s really new, and I’m excited to see what she can do. That scene was obviously just the tip of the iceberg. She’s going to be a big part of the story moving forward. I have a good feeling about her as an actress and a person. We’ve got her in serious fight training right now.

TVLINE | Moving on to the Blakes, you finally fix their relationship, and then you do this?
That’s the formula, isn’t it? [Laughs] I think that will drive Bellamy forward, for sure, as we go into Season 7.

TVLINE | What can you say to fans of those characters who are pulling their hair out right now?
Nothing. Their hair should be out. But you’re right that a new, more mature relationship was about to begin between the two of them. Now, she’s suddenly been taken from him, and he doesn’t know if she’s alive or dead. He doesn’t know where she went. He doesn’t know anything. That’s going to be the initial driver of his character into Season 7. We will reveal what is happening on the other side of the story — whether Octavia’s dead, and we tell her story through flashbacks, or we find her again.

TVLINE | Eliza Taylor’s performance really blew me away this week. Clarke kind of had to go full-on sociopath.
I knew how good Eliza was, but she really exceeded my wildest dreams this season. I told her at the beginning that we were going to push and challenge her, and after six seasons of playing the same character, it was refreshing for her. She had a blast doing it. And she started doing subtle things in Episode 12 when she was Clarke playing Josephine. There was about 25 percent less Josephine in her performance, and she really did calibrate it in that detailed way. Hats off to her. In that way, she really held this season together.

TVLINE | At the end, Clarke asked Bellamy if it was all worth it. From a showrunner standpoint, was it?
I would say that’s a close call, 51-49. But we like to live in the grey on this show. She lost her mom, but she tried to do better. They ultimately did destroy yet another culture, as we see. … They did their best.

TVLINE | Speaking of losing her mother, Paige Turco’s last scene must have been emotional to shoot.
It was, but Paige is a total pro. From the moment we started talking about her story, through the end, she was on her game and always wonderful to be around. She kind of knew that we were ending the show next season, so she knew she wouldn’t be missing out on a longer run. We hadn’t announced the ending officially, but I’d been pushing for it for a while, so that made it slightly easier. But it was very emotional. It’s always emotional.

TVLINE | Aside from the obvious, how will the events of this finale change Clarke moving into the final season?
I definitely feel like we’ll still see her coping with the loss of her mother. Who are you once your parents leave you is a very big driver going forward. She’s going to be committed to keeping her family together, of which I include Bellamy and Raven and Murphy and Echo — the whole group. They’re her family now.

Your thoughts on that insane ending? Hopes for the show’s final season? Grade the finale below, then drop a comment with your full review.

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