San Diego Comic-Con press rooms can be “interesting”*, especially when it comes to press roundtables for shows with a very dedicated fanbase. In the case of The 100, it's well known that executive producer Jason Rothenberg has been a lightning rod of conversation and controversy. This was my first experience interviewing him and I wasn't sure what to expect.
I'll say upfront that I really liked season three of The 100 and that, save for the way they handled Lexa's death. The other choices throughout the season all made sense to me. The female journalist, two seats over from me at Comic-Con, was almost my polar opposite opinion-wise. So, like I said, interesting.
For his part, Rothenberg has done some reflecting on what did and didn't work in season three. “I was in a dark place,” he said, “I must have been exorcising some demons…but I wanted to tell that story…which was about the loss of control. Ultimately, it was a story about a thing taking over your body.” Rothenberg thinks it led to some awful but fascinating things.
“The ultimate question of The 100 is 'how far will you go to save your people'”, Rothenberg explained, “and season four is another chapter in the growing story”.
This next chapter is basically “The Earth strikes back” and deals with changes in everything from the characters to the environment to the animals. Within that, Rothenberg is taking a much deeper look at whether his characters deserve to survive. Some won't. Given Bellamy's actions in season three, he's definitely on the bubble.
Speaking of Bellamy, I asked Rothenberg about whether or not Bellamy had been redeemed or not and Rothenberg said not to expect Bellamy's redemption anytime soon. Bellamy's story has been one bad decision after the next, with all sorts of ripple effects and both he and actor Bob Morley like Bellamy in the gray area he inhabits.
Interestingly, going back to the question of whether or not Bellamy deserves to survive, Rothenberg's view is that Bellamy doesn't think he deserves to make it through all of this. Personally, I'm sure more than a few characters feel the same way.
Like I said, buckle up.
*”interesting” ranges from “Oh god, oh god, we're all gonna die” to almost utter boredom depending on the interviewers and interviewees.