It's the end of the world as The 100 fans know it.

With a death wave threatening to kill all (remaining) life on Earth only six days away, tensions will continue to escalate from the moment the CW drama returns on Wednesday, until the heart-pounding Season 4 finale on May 24. "It gets intense, man," says Eliza Taylor, who was in New York City to promote her new movie Thumper at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Given the approaching apocalypse and the limited space the Second Dawn bunker provides, Clarke will once again be faced with impossible choices that challenge her to weigh her own humanity against what's necessary to save the last vestiges of the human race."I think it's fair to say that Clarke isn't going to balance things as well as she has in the past because the stakes are just that high," Taylor explains. "Just when you thought our show couldn't get anymore intense, it's the end of the world again. I think people will be interested to see how she's kind of losing it, but determined to push through."

Fortunately, this time around Clarke will really take advantage of the support system surrounding her in a way she never has before. "I think, in general, Clarke is leaning on her friends more this season, which is great because last season she just ran away and got weird in the woods by herself and didn't want anyone's help. So I think she's leaning a lot more on her mother [Paige Turco], on Bellamy [Bob Morley], on Raven [Lindsey Morgan] and even Murphy [Richard Harmon]," Taylor says.

The CW announces finale dates for all your favorites

Because of Clarke's willingness to share the burden this season, that means fans shouldn't expect the season to end with a solo Clarke pushing a button or pulling a lever to save the day. "It's going to be really different for Clarke in unspeakable ways," the actress teases. "I think fans are going to love the ending. This has been my favorite ending to a season yet. It's really cool."

Taylor also reveals that the season finale will set up future seasons "very differently" than the finales have in the past — but when asked whether that meant the rumors of a time-jump were true (the planet will be uninhabitable for five years after all), the star stayed mum.

The 100 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on the CW.

(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS, one of the CW's parent companies.)