What Does ‘The 100’ Leaving [Spoiler] Mean for Season 6? All Our Finale Questions
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the series finale of The 100.]
“The ground. That’s the dream.” Clarke’s introductory words have been the central focus The 100 orbited around for the past five seasons, as the 101-counting-Bellamy delinquents and their friends and family fought to survive on Earth, fought to build a home there, and eventually, fought to save it.
Now, their fight is over.
The 100 took a nuclear warhead to its premise (literally!) with the Season 5 finale, sending its protagonists into space to wait for Earth to become habitable again. As it turned out, that plan — much like the other plans Clarke and crew have enacted over the seasons — didn’t work out the way they’d anticipated.
When Earth doesn’t bounce back from the bombs, an elderly Monty cracks the Eligius III files and finds out they were mining for oil and found a new planet suitable for life. The season ends with teary-eyed Clarke and Bellamy gazing out over their new home and its twin suns, mourning the loss of Monty and Harper and finding hope for the future.
What does this interstellar twist mean for the show’s sixth season? We pondered the implications of the finale below.
A whole new world?
Eligius III was always coming back in some way, shape or form; it was unlikely it’d be brought up in the beginning of the season, and then again later on, only to be discarded. But those files have now sent our heroes to a planet they know nothing about, other than that it’s suitable for life and has dual suns. That’s not much to go on.
In Season 6, chances are good that a decent portion of episodes might be devoted to exploration and figuring out the lay of the land, so to speak. It’ll be interesting to see how heavily the show leans into its new interplanetary premise; how different from Earth will Eligius III’s new world be? Will our recently-defrosted protagonists come into contact with aliens, sarlacc pits or Cylons?
More than that, Monty makes sure to point out they’re not just at a new planet: they’re in an entirely new solar system. With the writers room recently bringing on board a few new writers, including some from Amazon’s The Expanse — which recently featured a similar twist in its third season finale — it stands to reason that there might be exploration not only on the ground, but in space. Wouldn’t it be cool to see Emori and Raven spacewalk again?
Will Eligius III be friendly?
Monty tells Clarke and Bellamy that Eligius III’s transmissions went dark after the “first apocalypse,” which has now literally been several lifetimes ago for Bellamy, Clarke and the rest of their friends. From earlier in the season, we know those on the third Eligius ship weren’t criminals: they were scientists and explorers. So at least they won’t have to deal with another McCreary when they land…or will they?
Cryokru comes in peace, but the survivors of Eligius III — if they’re even still around — don’t know that. If they’ve been on the planet this long, they presumably know all about it and have a decent stockpile of weaponry. Hopefully the radios aren’t fried on the old Eligius ship, because Clarke and her friends might want to give those living on the planet some notice that they’re arriving: otherwise, the consequences might be deadly.
Then again, the folks on the planet might not want to start a war. It would be pretty repetitive to have another storyline about sparring for limited resources when there’s an entire planet to choose from, unless our heroes decide to get into the oil business. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see a group of people trying to help, instead of harm them?
Another option, fully grim enough for this show, would be for the survivors to land and find only the remains of Eligius III. There’s built-in mystery there — who, or what, killed them all? — and it sets up a season that might not revolve around warfare or the end of the world.
What does “End Book One” mean?
At the very end of the the finale, the last shot features a title card that reads, “End Book One” on the Eligius Ship beneath Bellamy and Clarke. The 100 has long differentiated itself from the books on which it was based, so this is a little confusing: but most of all, it’s interesting.
According to showrunner Jason Rothenberg in an interview with IGN, “End Book One” signals the close of one story and the beginning of another. “The end of Book One means the first five seasons were Book One of the encyclopedia of The 100 adventures and Book Two begins as they set down on this new planet next year,” he said.
New land, same Blakes?
Because this is a season finale of The 100, not everything was tied up with a bow. Certain plot points haven’t been fully resolved, nor certain relationships fully mended, and Season 6 might elaborate more on where they’re going.
For one thing, Bellamy and Octavia’s scenes could be described as frosty, at best. Octavia — with some encouragement from young Commander Madi — seems to crave her brother’s forgiveness, which he appears equally hesitant to bestow on her. “You’re my sister. Part of me will always love you,” he says. When Octavia asks if the other part of him still wishes she was dead, he responds that he wishes part of her was. Ouch.
Conflict between the Blake siblings has been a central pillar on which many seasons of The 100 have stood, and now that Octavia has been effectively overthrown as Blodreina, the Blakes will need to find new bones to pick with each other or continue squabbling over old ones. It’d be nice to hear Bellamy tell his sister he loves her, though: she just might have to do more to earn those words first.
What’s up with Kane?
Last we heard about Abby’s moralistic beau, he was gravely injured and headed into cryosleep to save his life. Without the necessary resources to repair the damage Vinson had done to him, it seemed like Marcus Kane might have given his last motivational speech.
But — on the bright side, Henry Ian Cusick has confirmed he’ll be in Season 6, so it seems like Marcus will pull through. And Kane’s requirement to remain in cryosleep is convenient for Cusick’s filming schedule: they can keep Marcus in that pod as long as the actor playing him needs to film for Fox’s The Passage.
Abby already has the know-how, but hopefully Eligius III has the resources to save him. Assuming they do, “Kabby” should really get some downtime to recover from everything they’ve been through.
A century of bad blood?
Octavia might cause some conflict for more than one of our heroes. A brief interaction between her and Abby proved there’s no love lost between them, even though she did help Clarke’s mom take Marcus to the Eligius ship and save his life. Will a century of peace fade their complicated history, or will Octavia still hold their actions from The Dark Year against them? Marcus served as her semi-adoptive dad once: here’s hoping they can mop up that bad blood and be friends again.
In addition, Diyoza is still alive. She seems to be a friend to the group now, even offering Octavia some advice in the finale. But will she remain an ally? And furthermore, how much does Eligius III know about her, or the rest of the criminals who Bellamy convinced Madi to save?
If they had files on the rest of the Eligius missions the same way Diyoza and McCreary did, they might be a little reluctant to let Diyoza or her former followers set foot on the ground. (And speaking of Diyoza, when is she going to have that baby? Let’s hope Season 6 lets her finally meet her little one — a 125-year pregnancy must be tough.)
How does this affect Madi?
Madi Griffin is in a unique position heading into Season 6. As Heda, she led her people into battle and won a decisive victory. But she’s now lost the land on which her title of Commander was based, though that might not make a difference in terms of her leadership — those who had followed Blodreina were eager to follow her regardless of clan or alliance.
But now, with an entirely new planet in play, how will Madi’s role be affected? She’s now in a place where the majority of Commanders who speak to her through the chip can offer her little advice. And does the chip even still work, after a century of cryosleep?
The only Commander whose role might be expanded through interplanetary travel is Becca Pramheda. Becca was buried alive by her brother (and Second Dawn leader, Cadogan), a terrifying memory the former leader showed Madi in the chip. If Cadogan is somehow connected to Eligius III, or even still alive on the planet, Madi’s ability to connect with Becca and knowledge of her past might come in handy.
Unrelated to her role as Commander, it would be fun to see Madi bond with Harper and Monty’s son, Jordan Jasper Green. They’re both in the unique position of having had their parents tell them stories about their friends and the people they love, only to meet those people years later, and they’ve both had their parents making pretty essential life decisions for them (Monty and Harper put Jordan into cryo, and Clarke fought hard to keep Madi from becoming Commander). With those similarities between them — and Madi needing friends who aren’t her mom — Jordan might be a good pal for her.
The 100, Season 6 Premiere, 2019, The CW
