The 100 (TV series)

Did You Know?

• In Canada, Season 1 was licensed exclusively to Netflix and premiered March 20, 2014.
• In the UK and Ireland, the series premiered on E4 on July 7, 2014, and the first episode was the channel's biggest ever program launch with 1.39 million viewers.
• Warner Home Entertainment released the first five seasons on DVD and the first season on Blu-ray; later Blu-rays were released through Warner Archive Collection.

Plot

Ninety-seven years after a nuclear apocalypse, survivors live on a space station called the Ark. When life-support fails, one hundred juvenile detainees are sent to Earth to test habitability. They find survivors: Grounders living in clans, Reapers turned cannibal by Mountain Men, and Mountain Men descended from pre-apocalypse bunker dwellers. Led by Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake, the juveniles survive harsh conditions and establish contact with the Ark. In season two, the Mountain Men harvest bone marrow for radiation resistance; Clarke forms a fragile alliance with Grounders to rescue her people, ending with a devastating choice. Season three sees power struggles and an AI named A.L.I.E., who caused the original apocalypse, taking over minds. Clarke destroys A.L.I.E. but learns of another disaster. In season four, melting nuclear reactors threaten life; survivors seek radiation-resistant blood and a bunker, with only a few saved. Season five, six years later, finds Earth mostly uninhabitable except one green valley. Clarke protects her adopted daughter Madi as returning survivors from space and underground trigger war, ending with the valley destroyed and the group entering cryosleep. In season six, they awaken 125 years later on planet Sanctum, ruled by the Primes. Clarke fights body-snatching rituals and a rebel group, ending the Primes' rule with major losses.

Production

Filming took place in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The pilot was produced in the second quarter of 2013, with first-season filming from August 2013 to January 2014. Subsequent seasons filmed from July to January or February of the following years, with the seventh season filming from August 26, 2019, to March 14, 2020. Production was shut down on March 12, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but filming for the seventh season was completed. Post-production, including ADR recording, was done at Cherry Beach Sound recording studio. David J. Peterson, creator of Dothraki and Valyrian for Game of Thrones, developed the Grounders' language Trigedasleng, described as similar to Creole English. Peterson posited an accelerated evolution where early Grounders used a cant to obfuscate speech, which evolved over generations into Trigedasleng.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 93 percent average approval rating across seven seasons. The first season has a 76 percent approval rating based on 37 reviews, with an average score of 6.98/10; the site's consensus calls it a "high-concept guilty pleasure." On Metacritic, the first season scores 63 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Early reviews were mixed: Brian Lowry of The Boston Globe criticized stereotypical characters, while Allison Keene of The Hollywood Reporter noted the show glosses over narrative potential. Kelly West of Cinema Blend gave a favorable review, saying the series warms up into a compelling drama. IGN's Eric Goldman wrote that the show overcame early growing pains to become strong by the end of its first season.

Cancelled prequel series

In October 2019, Jason Rothenberg began developing a prequel series for the CW. A backdoor pilot episode titled "Anaconda" aired July 8, 2020, as part of the seventh season. Iola Evans, Adain Bradley, and Leo Howard were cast as Callie, Reese, and August. The prequel was to depict events 97 years before the original series, starting with the nuclear apocalypse. In January 2021, the series was still under consideration; by November 2021, the CW decided not to move forward with it.