Kelly Lawler

USA TODAY

Mild spoilers for The 100 season three premiere follow.

The 100 are back. And they're better than ever. Mostly.

When the CW show returns for its third season Thursday night there's a new normal on the ground as the Ark survivors and the Grounders before, as you might imagine, all hell breaks loose. Executive producer Jason Rothenberg broke it down for us:

"We start with a three month time jump and the world is at relative peace and so the people who live at what was formerly Camp Jaha, which we reveal fairly quickly in season 3 is now called Arkadia, because it’s odd to name the place Camp Jaha since Jaha turned out to be alive and well and not so, perhaps, name-your-city-able. We get to see a little bit of a breather when things first start before the (expletive) hits the fan. So that’s a new thing really. It’s a chance to reset. It’s a chance to breathe. It’s a chance to see them smile and maybe enjoy themselves before the new story kicks in and things accelerate to the ultimate darkness that they often do on our show."

And to tide you over until Thursday night's premiere, we present you a lovely clip of Lincoln and Bellamy engaged in a shirtless, sweaty sparring match (don't worry, it's educational).

'The 100' returns darker and bigger in Season 3