The 100 season 6 promises to be epic if these NYCC teases from Jason Rothenberg, Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley are anything to go by!

In The 100 season 5, the world ended — no, but for real this time.

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In the season 5 finale, “Damocles, Part 2,”Clarke, Bellamy, and the presumed remainder of the human race left Earth behind forever, sleeping for 125 years and waking up in a galaxy far, far away. (Nope, not that one.)

Related: 125 questions The 100 season 6 needs to answer

Maybe this bright and brave new world will be the wake-up call (heh heh) that humanity needs to turn over a new leaf and finally “be the good guys.”

Or maybe not?

At New York Comic-Con 2018, showrunner Jason Rothenberg and stars Bob Morley and Eliza Taylor dropped some very interesting hints about The 100 season 6, participating in a number of interviews and panel Q&A’s.

While everyone’s keeping tight-lipped about The 100 season 6, a few new bits of information did slip out during the panels and roundtable interviews. Here’s what we learned:

‘The 100: Book 2’ is about trying to be the good guys

The 100 season 6 only exists because of Monty and Harper’s sacrifice. After initially choosing to stay awake on the Eligius ship while Earth recuperated, the pair realized that Earth was in fact fully K.O’d this time around, and began working on another way to save humanity.

Monty eventually found a way to break the encryption on the Eligius 3 files, and was able to plot a course for the two-sun planet that they set out for 100 years ago — and which Bellamy and Clarke woke up to discover after another 125 years had passed.

Monty left them with the message “be the good guys,” and in season 6, we’ll see everyone try to live up to those words.

“They really want to do better,” Jason Rothenberg says in the roundtable interview video posted by Whedonopolis.

While ‘book 1’ of The 100 was about people doing whatever they needed to do to survive, Rothenberg and Bob Morley both imply that season 6, launching ‘book 2’ of the saga, will be about trying to lead humanity into a brighter age (which, reflecting our current reality, might be exactly what we need to see).

“One of the themes of the season, and the way the show changes, is that it’s not about how far you’ll go to survive … this season they’ve got Monty’s dying wish to be the good guys, and they’re gonna try very hard to do that,” says Rothenberg.

“In a lot of ways, [the season is] lighter. In a good way. There’s a lot more energy about it,” adds Eliza Taylor, in a separate roundtable interview posted by Showbiz Junkies.

Clarke, in particular, will try to live up to Monty’s last words.

Says Eliza Taylor: “Clarke feels like she’s messed up a lot, and she has a lot of enemies, so she’s trying to make amends for that. She really wants to be a better person.”

“There’s a lot more conversation, and a lot more making amends, in ourselves and with the other characters,” she adds.

And we’ll see the theme of ‘be the good guys’ carry through all season. “Every script, someone says, what about doing better?” says Rothenberg, adding that of course what is in the script doesn’t necessarily make it to air — but the spirit of trying to do better will at least remain.

Bob Morley implies that Monty felt particularly compelled to mend the relationship between Bellamy and Clarke, which is why he chose to wake them up first. “There’s a reason he woke up the two of them,” says Morley. “I think he thinks those two work better when they’re working together.”

So, to respect Monty and Harper’s wishes, we’ll see Bellamy and Clarke take Monty’s words to heart, and work towards “being able to see eye to eye again.” They are, even at odds, “two people that need each other and rely on each other.”

And that does mean we’ll see Bellamy and Clarke be a team again: “there’s a lot of camaraderie” between them, according to Taylor, “which is awesome. We have such a good time.”

Bellamy will also be personally driven by the desire to do better, being less interested in who the leader is and which faction is fighting whom, and more interested in making amends and bringing the fractured group back together.

Character dynamics and emotions will carry over from season 5

In the roundtable interviews, Jason Rothenberg doubled down on what he said just after season 5 ended: season 6 will pick up right where we left off, meaning that the emotional arcs and relationships will continue to develop — either beginning to heal, or shattering further.

Rothenberg says we’ll see the fallout from Clarke leaving Bellamy to die, Octavia’s Blodreina reign, and more. There will be “lots of conflict, for sure.”

However, Rothenberg also notes that it’ll take a “little while” before our heroes meet the planet’s inhabitants, meaning that “they’ll have some time to work out their stuff.”

While Eliza Taylor says they will be introducing “a bunch more human beings” into the cast, the first batch of episodes will be heavily main cast-focused.

When the season begins, we can expect most of the (non-named) characters to stay in cryo for a while, leaving more space and time for the main characters to interact and repair their bonds with each other.

Up on the ship, that leaves Madi (Lola Flanery) in a bit of a dilemma, as “there are not a lot of characters left to lead.” Morley adds that, now that Madi is technically the leader of everyone, some characters will “find it hard, who they align with now.”

In season 6, we’ll see Madi working to master the Flame, and through that journey we’ll learn what it really means to have all those minds interact with her own.

“It has made Commanders crazy in the past,” says Rothenberg — which is something we actually didn’t know before, so I wonder if this is a hint that we’re set to get more Commander backstories and flashbacks in season 6?

While Madi is working out how to control the Flame in her head, Clarke will of course continue to worry for and be protective of her daughter, but Rothenberg indicates that Clarke will try to respect Madi’s choice to be Commander, and give her the freedom to explore what that means for her.

What happened to Eligius 3?

The reason Monty was able to find this new planet was because the lost Eligius 3 ship had already found it.

But by the time our heroes arrive, more than 200 years have passed since the passengers aboard Eligius 3 touched down, and according to Rothenberg, “A big part of the season’s mystery is what happened to Eligius 3.”

Rothenberg references the mystery of the lost Roanoke Colony, the first British attempt to colonize America, in which everyone disappeared without a trace.

This is interesting, as it not only suggests that perhaps the planet was already inhabited before Eligius 3 arrived, but that, just maybe, the Eligius 3 characters were all killed, and the people we eventually encounter might not be the descendants of that group.

Alternatively, as is also a theory about the Lost Colony, the survivors integrated into local tribes, and the present-day inhabitants of the new planet might represent a combination of the two (or more) peoples.

We’ll have plenty of time to speculate about this, working to solve the mystery alongside the characters (and/or reading Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow to get some ideas, as this novel incidentally also tells the story of a lost colony). When the initial landing team arrive on the planet’s surface, they’re going to find traces of Eligius 3, and are going to have to piece together what happened to them.

Since we know they eventually encounter some form of society, led by J.R. Bourne’s Russell (!), it’ll be interesting to see if those people — if they are even people — are the planet’s original inhabitants, Eligius 3 descendants, a combination of the two, OR something totally different!

The two suns are not just for show

While we’re all excited about the two suns because it’ll presumably ~up the brightness~, Rothenberg says that it’ll also have real effects on the story: “The stars eclipse, and shit happens.”

(Not to keep bringing up The Sparrow, but could the effect be similar to what happens in that novel, in which the three suns’ orbit cause a third time of day, with light only certain species are able to see in?)

Aside from this little tidbit, not a lot was revealed about the new planet — we’re still waiting on a name, even — but we do know there will be some attempts to make it look different from Earth, even though Rothenberg admits it’s a “challenge” since they’re still shooting in Vancouver.

We can, however, expect it to look “beautiful,” which in itself will be refreshing, since The 100‘s Earth has really not looked its best since Praimfaya began approaching in season 4.

Eliza Taylor says that there will be a lot of foreign elements for the characters to encounter; “there’s definitely going to be some weird stuff going on down there that will affect the characters.” (Is anyone else getting strong Annihilation vibes?!)

Bellamy and Octavia are still at odds

While it looks like some fences will be mended fairly quickly (Miller and Bellamy, for one), the Blake sibling bond took several major blows in season 5 that won’t be as easy to recover from.

Bellamy poisoned Octavia. Octavia put Bellamy in the fighting pit. Octavia burned the farm and led her people to slaughter. Bellamy wished a part of her was dead. It’s a lot of baggage. And yes, in the season 5 finale Octavia finally abandoned her Blodreina persona, but that was only the first step.

At the main panel, Bob Morley said it would take a lot for the two of them to get back to a place where they see each other as siblings (as reported by TV Guide).

“I think there’s a long way to go before they’re on good terms,” he added at the roundtable interviews.

Morley says that Octavia will be going on her own journey, of “discovering who she is” sans Blodreina. And “that’s something Bellamy has to let her do,” before he can recognize her as Octavia again as opposed to the Blodreina she had become.

In the roundtable interviews, Rothenberg talks about the challenge Octavia is facing in season 6, after trying and failing to die as a hero in season 5.

Instead, she’s going to have to “get her shit together,” presumably fairly quickly.

But the ‘biggest news’ to come out of NYCC, according to a lot of fans, is that Shawn Mendes apparently survived the second apocalypse, the bunker and the war, and is now deep in cryo sleep. In fact, according to Rothenberg, anyone who didn’t die on screen is probably alive right now (HELIOS LIVES, I KNEW IT.)

In other exciting news, we can expect the characters to get new outfits at some point this season.

We’re still waiting for concrete news about the planned ‘prequel’ currently in the works for The 100, but we did learn that Bellamy and Octavia’s great-grandfather (who was namedropped in season 5) might play a part in it.

In the SYFY WIRE panel, we also learned that the prequel is set around the time the bombs went off.

New character Jordan (Shannon Kook) has reportedly integrated well into the cast, with both Morley and Taylor praising his performance. Taylor jokes that she calls him her ‘adopted son’ on set.

We’re also set to get some more Echo backstory, which Morley says is something the character needs, “so people can understand where she’s coming from.”

Bob Morley is directing an episode this season — which isn’t news — but Morley did reveal that it is episode 11 (if season 6 follows the structure of the previous seasons, that would be the last episode before the two-part finale).

While Rothenberg calls Morley “a born director,” it is, in Morley’s own words, an “exciting and terrifying” prospect. But they are only filming episode 4 right now, so it’s a while off yet.

As for Eliza Taylor, she is facing one of her biggest acting challenges to date this season, and has been “shocked” by the direction of Clarke’s journey: “Clarke definitely changes a lot, so I’m kind of freaking out. But it’s gonna be really cool for people to watch.”

Finally, we can expect some callbacks to the pilot episode. “People will get a kick out of seeing us arriving, it sort of feels like the pilot all over again,” says Taylor.

First look at ‘The 100’ season 6

Fans attending NYCC were treated to a series of first look stills from The 100 season 6, which were later posted online as TV Line exclusives.

The biggest reveal from these images is which characters go down to the planet’s surface as part of the initial landing crew:

Aside from Bellamy and Clarke, we’ve got Zeke Shaw (Jordan Bolger), Echo (Tasya Teles), Murphy (Richard Harmon), Emori (Luisa d’Oliveira), Miller (Jarod Joseph) and Jackson (Sachin Sahel).

Key characters missing include Madi, Octavia, Diyoza (Ivana Milicevic) and Raven (Lindsey Morgan), who presumably stays behind on the ship to run things from there — and her leg might also be a concern, since they don’t know what conditions they’ll be facing on the surface.

While I would of course love to see Raven with the rest, there are some interesting character interaction opportunities for her up on the NewArk. And if she really does stay behind, it provides some interesting opportunities for Shaw to integrate with the rest of the group.

As for Octavia, obviously it’s a bummer that we’re losing out on a “we’re back bitches” parallel — and her staying behind means less opportunities to interact with Bellamy and Clarke — but there are plenty of interesting people for her to engage with on the ship, too, presuming they wake her up.

I would particularly like to see Octavia continue to mend fences with Abby, bond with Diyoza, and maybe form a connection to newcomer Jordan. Considering the complicated friendships she had with Monty and Jordan’s namesake Jasper, there is a lot of material to mine there.

But enough of that. The absolute biggest and most exciting still is, obviously, THIS ONE:

Looks like Jackson and Miller are part of the adventure squad this season… which I have absolutely no feelings about whatsoever. ;) #MacksonForever

In this still, Miller is upset about something — perhaps repenting for the role he played in almost killing Clarke and Bellamy? Certainly, Miller was complicit in everything Octavia did to them last season, so it’ll be interesting to see how much time season 6 devotes to mending his relationships with them.

Or perhaps something has upset everyone around that campfire, as we also see Clarke, Bellamy and Echo looking somber. Perhaps this is the scene in which we see everyone mourn the loss of Monty and Harper.

(Hold the damn phone, is Miller crying about Monty?!)

Speaking of shipping, it appears to be a very paired-off group of characters that descend to the ground. Bellamy/Echo, Murphy/Emori and Miller/Jackson, Shaw (who is with Raven) and… Clarke. Sitting alone, looking sadly into the fire.

However, while we don’t yet know if romance is in store for Clarke this season (though Eliza Taylor said she’d like to see that happen), being in relationships has never stopped the characters on The 100 from having significant interactions and emotional development with other people. So there’ll be plenty of emotional material for her in this group, regardless of whether or not everyone’s coupled off.

In fact, between Bellamy, Clarke, Echo, Murphy, Emori, Shaw, Miller and Jackson — which really is a stellar combination — there aren’t two characters that wouldn’t be fun to see interact. So it’s just a question of which dynamics The 100 writers have chosen to prioritize in season 6.

Eliza Taylor teases some “fun dynamics” between unexpected characters, so place your bets! Emori and Jackson, BFFs on Planet Marper? Anything’s possible in The 100: Book 2!

You can see the rest of the stills on TV Line, and we’ll be adding them to the article when The CW makes them available.

‘The 100’ season 6 premieres in 2019

Thank you to David P on Twitter for sharing info about the panels!