‘The 100’ Showrunner, Stars on Clarke’s Big Reunions and Roan’s True Character

“Deep down inside, he’s not a bloodthirsty savage who’s just trying to kill as many people as he can,” star Zach McGowan tells TheWrap of his character

The 100 Wanheda Part Two
The CW

(Spoiler alert: Please do not read if you have not watched Thursday’s episode of “The 100”)

Clarke’s time away from familiar faces came to an end in the newest episode of “The 100” Thursday night.

The wayward leader of the Sky People (played by Eliza Taylor) had been on a walkabout of sorts for three months since the end of Season 2, but unbeknownst to her, Bellamy (Bob Morley), Kane (Henry Ian Cusick), Monty (Christopher Larkin) and others had caught word of her whereabouts and were on her trail.

After getting captured by the bounty hunter Roan (Zach McGowan), Clarke seemed doomed, until Bellamy went undercover with the marching Ice Nation army to mount a one-man rescue party.

Showrunner Jason Rothenberg walked TheWrap through the first of Clarke’s two big reunions in the episode.

“When they come together in that subterranean place, he thinks he’s about to rescue her and Roan comes in and leaves Bellamy bleeding on the ground,” the EP said. “But in that moment, Clarke pleads for Bellamy’s life and I think one of the things that happens in that moment is we begin to see that maybe Roan’s not quite the villain that he appears to be.

“He obviously showed some mercy, he understands Clarke’s feelings for Bellamy and doesn’t want to put her through any undue pain.”

McGowan also saw that moment as a turning point for his character.

“Deep down inside, he’s not a bloodthirsty savage who’s just trying to kill as many people as he can,” he said. “That has a lot to do with it, and two, it was seeing that Clarke had a core connection to [Bellamy]. When we’re introduced to Roan, he was just a bounty hunter with a sword to Clarke’s throat, and that scene reveals there’s more going on with him. He’s a little bit more complex.”

As for Bellamy, he will continue to be haunted by the failed rescue attempt, according to Rothenberg.

“Bellamy’s forced to let go,” said Rothenberg. “He’s forced to face the fact that he can’t bring Clarke back, that’s going to be something that’s very, very hard for him to accept going forward.”

Instead of being rescued and brought home by Bellamy, Clarke trudges on with Roan. He takes her to the person who hired him to track him down, and it turns out it’s Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey), the commander of the grounders.

After revealing that Roan is actually the banished prince of the Ice Nation, Lexa tells Clarke she needs her help, but Clarke spits in her face and threatens to kill her instead, before being dragged into captivity by Lexa’s guards.

Debnam-Carey thinks Clarke probably had the appropriate reaction to seeing Lexa for the first time.

“Yeah, I would be pretty angry if that happened to me!” she laughed, referencing Clarke being betrayed by Lexa in Season 2.

“Clarke is now the equivalent of a royal prisoner within Polis [the grounder capitol],” Rothenberg teased. “She will have to either figure out a way to kill Lexa or come to some type of understanding about what Lexa did. Hopefully, a cooler head on Clarke’s part will prevail and she’ll eventually be able to look at what Lexa did as something she can understand. That’s the stuff of Episode 3 in a big way. Trying to find a way to see what happened last season in an unemotional way, in a way that perhaps she could say she understands. If she can’t do that, she’ll never forgive Lexa.”

“The 100” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.

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