Almost all the characters on The 100 have changed dramatically since the show began, but Octavia Blake (Marie Avgeropoulos) has had one of the most dramatic transformations. The girl who jumped off the dropship in the pilot yelling “We’re back, bitches!” and nearly got killed taking an ill-advised, underwear-clad swim in a lake soon after, has been reforged into a fierce and intense warrior – but also a woman without a tribe, as she still feels apart from those from the Ark, where she was forced to keep her existence a secret, and now from the Grounders, who cast her out at the end of Season 2, just as she was becoming accepted.

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The 100: Season 3 Premiere Photos 14 IMAGES

On a visit to The 100’s set, I spoke to Avgeropoulos about what’s next for Octavia when Season 3 kicks off this coming Thursday, her relationships with Lincoln and Bellamy, how she continues to change (and fight) and more.Well, a lot of things have changed for Octavia in Season 3. She’s at conflict with herself, they’re at conflict with each other. Her relationship is having issues, with the one person that’s ever really accepted Octavia for who she is. There’s a lot of ups and downs with her character and it’s a crazy ride. You’re going to have to tune in to see what happens.Yeah, especially now that the group keeps getting bigger, with all these characters being introduced and trying to mesh together as this functioning society, which on The 100 is never really functioning, Lincoln included. He was always seen as an outsider. That’s what makes his character so special as well, that he’s this forbidden man and that’s why Octavia took the forbidden fruit in the first place. It’s bittersweet.She finds safety in Bellamy for a lot of reasons, same as any sibling duo. You can confide in them, you can feel comfortable around them but they’re also the person you can feel the most comfortable with when crap hits the fan and really want to let them have it. Just like any siblings you’re going to see the rivalry. They disagree on a lot of major issues that are really fundamental to Octavia. They will be at odds as well, for sure, to say the least.Yeah, she’s sort of a chameleon character which is so much fun for me as an actor to play her, just because I never put her in gear and continue to drive forward. She’s always evolving, which I really appreciate of the writing with Octavia. Plus, I get to swing swords and ride horses, so my job is pretty cool. [Laughs]Oh yeah, my stunt repertoire of skills in my back pocket that I have learned and taken from this show is really amazing and something I pride myself on to be doing, is all my own action. I’m a big kid at heart and I’m an athlete. I love playing sports so I’m always down to get dirty and roll around in the mud for the show or do whatever is necessary. It’s fun.Well, it’s something she worked so hard towards and it wasn’t just for necessarily the point of fitting in, like some very immature goal that she had. She did it for herself because growing up under the floor, she didn’t really belong anywhere. She was already illegal and the other kids treated her differently. She was the black sheep but she really found acceptance with those people, at least she thought she did, to just have it shoved back in her face. She’s going to have to mend that hole in her heart somehow. it’s pretty interesting the way that she finds peace within herself.[widget path="video/embed/playlist" parameters="slug=the-100-season-3-lead-in"]It definitely changes things. it changed things for me because I’ve never been into sci-fi whatsoever. I don’t like Star Trek. I don’t like Star Wars. I like the stars at night when I’m around a campfire and that’s about it. [Laughs] Nothing on TV. So it was a little confusing for me at first but I think it really goes to show you the different levels and layers this show has and that we’re able to shock the viewer and take stories on a hard left or right and keep expanding this phenomenal world that the creators have made.

The 100: Season 3 premieres Thursday, January 21st on the CW at 9:00pm ET/PT.Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @TheEricGoldman , IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at Facebook.com/TheEricGoldman