The CW has set the premiere date for the seventh and final season of The 100.
The final chapter of the sci-fi drama, which is based on Kass Morgan’s novel series of the same name, will begin its 16-episode run on Wednesday, May 20th at 8 p.m. ET.
Season 6 ended with a huge cliffhanger that saw Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) dissolving into a green mist after an adult version of Hope (Shelby Flannery) seemingly killed her. Showrunner Jason Rothenberg said that Season 7 will pick up directly after the events of the Season 6 finale, with an anxious Bellamy (Bob Morley) trying to figure out what has happened to his sister.
And even though Hope came out of the Anomaly as an adult when three days ago she was just a fetus in Diyoza’s (Ivana Milicevic) belly, Rothenberg said that they won’t be using time travel to explain that mystery, which is actually the main focus of the final season.
Interestingly, though it seemed that Hope killed Octavia, the latter isn’t necessarily the villain of the new season. In fact, Rothenberg thinks that fans are going to end up liking Hope, especially her quick wit. Flannery was upped to series regular for Season 7.
In addition to Flannery, Morley, and Milicevic, other actors returning for the final season include Eliza Taylor as Clarke Griffin, Lindsey Morgan as Raven, Richard Harmon as John, Tasya Teles as Echo, Shannon Kook as Jordan Green, and Chuku Modu as Gabriel. And even though Octavia’s fate hangs in the balance, Avgeropoulos is also confirmed to return for the new season.
“Whether she’s alive or dead … you can safely say we have not seen the last of her,” Rothenberg told Entertainment Weekly. “But whether or not she’s dead and we tell her story in flashback or whether or not we see her again in the present, that’s something we have to wait and see.”
Season 7 will also introduce new characters, including bank robber and spree-killer Nikki (Alaina Huffman) and a charming Eligius convict named Hatch (Chad Rook).
Though the season will mark the end of the road for Clarke, Bellamy, and the rest of the characters that fans have come to know and love through the entire run of the show, it’s possible this isn’t the last time fans will see the expansive universe of The 100.
As previously reported, Rothenberg, along with executive producers Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo, is working on a prequel to The 100 that will take place 97 years before the events of the original series. The potential series is being developed as a planted spinoff and will air as a regular episode of The 100 during its final season.