Interview with Executive Producer Jason Rothenberg about The 100 season finale "Damocles - Part Two"

The 100 never disappoints when it comes to intense and crazy two-part finales. At the end of “Damocles – Part One,” Madi and the rover showed up just in time to save Octavia, Bellamy, Indra and Gaia in the gorge, while the threats to everyone outside the valley increased as McCreary has not one, but two pilots to solidify his victory. With Clarke on the move to stop McCreary, the gorge rescue sets up one final attempt for Wonkru to work with Spacekru to secure the valley for their future survival.

KSiteTV’s Carla Day spoke with Executive Producer Jason Rothenberg to find out what lessons the characters have learned that they will bring into the finale and how pivotal Madi will be to their survival.

What lessons have the characters learned that they will take into the finale?

Clarke

Clarke has realized that she needs to let go of her child and let her child fulfill her destiny, which is really a universal parental thing. We all have to. We raise our children and we protect them, but at some point, they are on their own in this life. And we have to let that happen. Obviously in this situation, it’s much more dire and heightened as it always in in this show. That’s essentially what Clarke is experiencing and has done so by the end of [Episode 12]. Into the finale, we see her now still fighting to protect Madi, so it’s not as if she’s letting Madi go on her own. [Clarke] has a mission, it’s now in alignment with other heroes, who may or may not forgive her so quickly, but will all be grateful if she succeeds in her mission which is to keep that transfer ship from flying and launching missiles at the army.

Bellamy

For me this season, I love this Bellamy. He came into this season, heart and head, fully heroic. He struggled mightily with how far to go in stopping his sister, and whether or not Octavia was in fact still salvageable and in there. The moment in Episode 12 when she says, “Don’t you want me dead?” And, he says, “Yes,” to me is crushing, obviously, deliberately so. That will reverberate into the finale.

If Octavia survives the finale and Bellamy survives the finale, you would imagine that’s not going to go away so quickly. In terms of what he’s learned, he’s our hero through and through this season in my eyes. My favorite Bellamy for sure. Anybody who says they miss their Bellamy, I mean, that makes me laugh, because the Bellamy they miss was impulsive, emotional, over-reactive, and did stupid things because he didn’t think with his head. This Bellamy thinks with his head and feels with his heart. That’s what you want. He’s a grown-up now.

Octavia

Octavia, so much of the season was about Blodreina and that arc. Marie [Avgeropoulos] was just stunning. Her pulling it off. We asked a lot of her and she pulled it off. She soared in the role. She realized, again, everything comes to a crisis point and then kinda has an uptick at the end in terms of their emotional journey for the season. In Episode 12, Octavia realized she broke Wonkru. Octavia was willing to sacrifice her life to save the people, who only episodes before were forced to put into the arena. Then, she got that hero’s death taken away from her with the arrival of everybody in the rover. The fact that she didn’t get that is probably something that you could imagine is going to haunt her. Whether or not, it’s something that we explore in Episode 13 or into next season, if she makes it, is a question, but she certainly– there’s an incompleteness to her journey because of what happened. To me, I think is going to be fascinating to explore.

Things happen really quickly in the finale, and there’s not a whole lot of time for sitting back and contemplating where we are emotionally in terms of relationships. It’s a roller coaster.

Following up on that, is there a possibility for any of these relationships which have been broken to be healed at all?

Yeah, we’ll see the beginnings of some healing for sure between some people. Obviously, Clarke is on the right side by from the perspective of Bellamy, at this point, and others who are with Spacekru. There certainly will be a connection between those two characters in the finale over what happened and how to move forward.

How pivotal will Madi be in the finale as Commander?

Madi is everything. She was Clarke’s touchstone. She was our hero’s emotional core and center. I’m very proud of this young actress, Lola [Flanery], she’s just beyond her years talented. She ultimately had her own story, and in some ways, was the hero of the season. She ascended to the Commandership and now is essentially the head of the army, which may or may not make it into the valley. She’s fulfilling her destiny, so to me that’s really exciting. I’m glad it wasn’t just some annoying kid who— I’m really proud of how that character developed and the way that story developed. She’ll be pivotal, she’s the Commander now. The Commander is big deal in this universe. She’s legit.

The 100 airs Tuesdays on the CW. Preview images from the season finale can be found here.

