The 100 Creator Jason Rothenberg Talks “Wanheda” and What’s Next for Clarke and the Rest of the “Skaikru”
If you saw last week’s Season 3 premiere of The CW’s The 100, you know that as intense as last season got, this season will be more so. When we last saw her, Clarke has separated from the rest of the survivors of the Ark, not being able to handle her guilt over what she had to do to eliminate the Mount Weather threat. But how does she fare starting a new life all on her own? Executive Producer Jason Rothenberg sheds some light on what’s to come for Clarke and the rest of the Sky People. **Spoilers if you’re not caught up to the Season 3 premiere**
At the end of Season 2, Clarke made the decision to destroy the entire civilization living at Mount Weather in order to protect both the Sky People and the Grounders. When the Sky People return to the Ark, Clarke tells Bellamy she’s leaving, taking the pain and guilt of killing the mountain people with her. She says, “I bear it so they don’t have to.”
In an interview with Nerdist, Rothenberg talks about Clarke’s headspace after the events of last season, saying that she might not ever forgive herself, but that Season 3 is in large part about her coming close. Which will be difficult, considering that legend of what she’s done has spread among the Grounders, and she’s now known as “Wanheda” or Commander of Death. Now, she’s hiding out in disguise trying to escape those Grounders who would kill her to “steal her power.”
Rothenberg explains Wanheda:
Obviously she doesn’t name herself that. She becomes known as Wanheda by the Grounders because the legend spread and is given a name. They know her as the Commander of Death. This girl from space burned 300 badass Grounder warriors alive in a ring of fire at the dropship and then by herself. Although she had help from Bellamy, Monty, and others, she essentially single-handedly wiped out Mount Weather, which was the biggest threat on the ground. She took it out by herself in a day, after being abandoned by the Commander herself, who is supposed to be the biggest, baddest dog on the block.
That is the stuff of legend, and she becomes Wanheda. But it’s something that she hates. It’s something that she runs from, tries to hide from, changes her identity because of, and ultimately will discover that you can’t hide from who you are. You can’t sneak up on a mirror. Ultimately, we’ll see if she can figure out a way to rediscover her own humanity. She’s denying her emotions, she’s denying herself any kind of real understanding of what she had to do. This season’s journey for her is about rediscovering her own humanity. The theme of this season is, ‘What does it mean to be human?’ Clarke has to remember that.
If you were watching the Season 3 premiere, you know it ended with Clarke finally being captured, by a bounty hunter named Roan. Rothenberg says that “He certainly appears to be a bad guy when we first meet him. Subtly and not too slowly, we realize there’s more to that story. He’s complicated.”
Of course, he is. This is The 100, after all.
And speaking of complicated, the Season 3 premiere also allowed us to get to know the artificial intelligence A.L.I.E., upon whom Jaha has started to dote now that he’s “found the City of Light” like a good little cultist. Meanwhile, Murphy is all NOPE when he learns that A.L.I.E. may have been responsible for the whole civilization-ending nuclear apocalypse in the first place.
Says Rothenberg:
The other big story that we’re telling is the A.I. story, which takes less weight in the beginning of the season, as it percolates along as a sub-story, a B story. And it will—as you watch, going forward after episode four—begin to become more and more prominent until it explodes into the foreground of everything and becomes just insanely crazy and cool.
The 100 has pretty much always traded on being absurd and cool. Strap in, folks! This is gonna get good!
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(image via Cate Cameron/The CW)
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