Comic Con @Home: The 100 Panel

Appearing for the last time at Comic Con 2020 (aka Comic Con @Home), some of the main cast members of the long-running post-apocalyptic drama The 100 gathered for a video presentation and Q&A via YouTube.

Led by moderator Eric Goldman, Managing Editor at Fandom (who moderated the first Comic Con panel for The 100 back in 2013), he introduced participating cast members Marie Avgeropoulos, Lindsey Morgan, Richard Harmon, Tasya Teles, Shannon Kook, JR Bourne and Shelby Flannery as well as executive producer and show creator Jason Rothenberg.

Given that this panel – like all other panels this year – were pre-recorded, each cast member and Jason were given a chance to answer a question directed solely at their role in the show before breaking into fan questions directed at the group.

Jason was asked what his priorities were for this season. He shared that he “wanted to make sure (they) didn’t leave any unanswered questions.” By now most viewers have seen the introduction of the prequel (episode 8 entitled “Anaconda”), and he stated “the ending of that story is the moral of the story. Hopefully everyone will look at the whole story (of the show) differently once we get to the end of the series.”

Marie was then asked about the evolution of her character Octavia Blake. She shared that this season there has been a new family dynamic for Octavia, making her more centered. Continuing she said, it’s been a “pleasure to play her because she’s always changing.” This season “Octavia finally realized what (her brother) Bellamy had been telling her all those years. She finally gets to use the tools Bellamy taught her as a parent.” Marie also shared that “it was a nice softer version that we haven’t seen of (her) before.”

Lindsey was asked about her character Raven Reyes having to face a gauntlet this season. She stated “Raven’s great in the sense that she is so smart, but sometimes being so smart, it doesn’t always give you the opportunity to learn. I think we saw in (previous) seasons (that) Raven was “Miss Morality” and calling everyone out, judging them unjustly because she hadn’t been in their situations so now that she’s had to make these (tough) choices, Raven gets a taste of the world of grey.”

Richard was asked about viewers seeing a certain change in Murphy this season. Richard shared that “yes, (he has) done more heroic things, (but) that self-preservation instinct is always there. Maybe Murphy is now in a place where he’s embracing that heroic side (more).” He continued “There have been a lot of wrinkles added this season that I don’t think Murphy saw coming. It’s been fun playing him this season as he falls ass-backwards into a leadership role. He is a reluctant leader, but as time goes on you almost start to see him care about what happens to the people (of Sanctum). I think he has changed in certain ways; but he’s still that same Murphy down inside and we have to wait to find out and see where his allegiances lie.”

Tasya was then asked about how her character Echo will move forward given all that has happened this season (namely Bellamy’s death). She stated “it’s triggering for her to go through losing the one person see truly has allowed herself to love. Bellamy means everything to her, and she’s a very loyal (person). Her big challenge is figuring out who she is without someone to follow, without being the right hand to someone. That’s a scary thing for her.”

Shannon was asked about what is the dynamic for his character Jordan Green now. He shared that “it’s been interesting seeing (who he) is going to align with, testing his (limited) experiences. He’s very idealistic and (wants) to do good, but when put to the test, the decisions are not as easy (to make). It’s been interesting to play (his) imperfections, being an outsider.”

JR was then asked about playing two very different characters on the show in two years. Last year he was Russell Lightbourne and this season he is Sheidheda. He stated “it’s beyond interesting. It’s one thing to play different characters (in different shows), but to do it on the same show, that was a brand new experience for me. What a gift! It’s been a lot of fun.” [It should be noted JR had a VERY big grin on his face, when talking about how fun it’s been to play these two characters.]

Newcomer Shelby Flannery was asked about her character Hope Diyoza, namely that viewers got a brief glimpse of her in the season finale from last year, and then Hope jumped right into things in the final season. She shared “I’ve been super lucky. (We got) to see her whole childhood almost immediately. (That) made it a lot easier for me. Everything shifted right away. You have to throw yourself into (this kind of role) 100% in order to find the magic.”

It was at this time that Jason mentioned this was Shelby’s first role right out of drama school. In fact, her first day on the set was the biggest day for the rest of the cast – being the filming of last year’s season finale. Jason shared that “you’re such an interesting actor. It feels like you’ve been doing this forever. You also saved our asses just (by) showing up and being able to carry as much material as we gave you.”

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Taking a break from asking questions, short video messages from missing cast members Chuku Modo, who plays Dr. Gabriel Santiago, and lead actors and recent newlyweds Eliza Taylor (Clarke Griffin) and Bob Morley (Bellamy Blake) were played.

This was followed up by several fan questions. The first being if any of the cast were scared if/when the show would kill off their characters over the years. Richard and Shannon both shared that “you’ve got to be a peace with it” while Tasya said she felt “every script she read, she felt that (one) would be the one for Echo (to die) and Marie joked that Octavia “was like a Honda Civic that just kept going.” Lindsey also shared that when Raven was losing her mind in season 4, the crew kept saying goodbye to her and “I was like should I be worried?” Richard then shared that during season 1 Jason had asked to speak with him several scenes before he was due to be on set to film, and he was convinced he was being killed off the show only to learn that Jason wanted him to become a series regular. Richard said “I cried” hearing that news.

It was at this time that another set of video messages from previous cast members (regular or recurring) was presented, featuring the following saying thank you and “May we meet again”:

Sara Thompson, who played Josephine Lightbourne
Alessandro Juliani, who played Jacapo Sinclair
Christopher Larkin, who played Monty Green
Chelsey Reist, who played Harper McIntyre
Eli Goree, who played Wells Jaha
Michael Beach, who played Charles Pike
Zach McGowan, who played King Roan
Nadia Hilker, who played Luna
Isaiah Washington, who played Thelonious Jaha
Alycia Debham-Carey, who played Lexa
Paige Turco, who played Dr. Abby Griffin

Another fan question was if any of the cast took anything from set, and it turned out that Tasya took a number of things, including the chair backs of many of the cast members and a piece of artwork of Richard as Murphy. Lindsey has Raven’s iconic orange jacket and Jason has the flame box. Marie was disappointed that she didn’t have anything, and asked Jason to get her Octavia’s sword.

They were then asked a few other fan questions, ending with what their fan interactions have been like; and each of the cast members agreed that it’s a great experience for them talking with fans, reading their Twitter posts and getting to meet them at conventions. Jason joked that it’s been a little harder for him and the writers, though. Tasya said it best, though: “I didn’t realize how much inspiration I was going to receive from the audience, how much love, support and enthusiasm. Together we’ve done a lot of beautiful things as a collective because of the show.” Marie ended it with sharing “I am so happy to be part of a diverse show that’s been diverse since day one.”

You can see the entire Comic Con @Home panel here:

The 100 will be back with the remainder of its new episodes from its 7th and final season on The CW starting on August 5 at 8/7c.