The 100 Showrunner Talks 'Happy Ending' For Final Season

The 100 Clarke Griffin Eliza Taylor The CW
(Image credit: The CW)

The 100’s showrunner has opened up about a so-called “happy ending” for The CW series’ final season. Ahead of the show’s Season 6 finale, The 100 made a huge announcement, noting at the time its upcoming seventh season will also be the last. Can the post-apocalyptic drama actually zero in on a happy ending for its characters? At least, by its standards?

A happy ending is what many fans traditionally tend to want from a series finale. Considering The 100 has been an unrelentingly edgy sci-fi endeavor getting one is certainly not ensured. The 100’s showrunner, Jason Rothenberg, weighed in on the potential of a happy ending unfolding when the series wraps, noting,

I think that’s an interesting way to put it. A happy ending? I’d say that’s probably, well… it’ll be our version of a happy ending, how about that?

Jason Rothenberg's comments to EW sound simultaneously ominous and promising. Getting a happy ending at this point would be tricky, given what the characters have gone through during the course of the CW series. The 100 in The 100 have seen quite a few significant departures as it has gotten closer to the Season 6 finale. It has meant shakeups that has caused its share of heartache for the show’s characters.

For example, earlier in the season, Henry Ian Cusick’s character Marcus Kane seemed to be on the verge of a potential comeback. Thanks to a trusty body transfer another actor tackled the role for a short while. It did not last long-term and Cusick briefly returned to send his character off with a final scene.

Not too much longer after Marcus Kane’s exit, The 100 confirmed the departure of another original character. Season 6 is definitely hurtling towards something with its penultimate chapter, which has dramatically set up the final season. What is in store for Season 7 overall? The 100’s showrunner, Jason Rothenberg, provided a tease about what the last season will entail, saying:

But I definitely can safely say that we’re trying to say something more with Season 7. The ending of a story always is the point of the story, the moral of the story. We have yet to reveal the moral of the story, but it will be revealed in Season 7. And it won’t be ‘People are horrible, we all suck, we’re willing to kill everyone and everything and do anything to survive.’ There’s a higher purpose.

Sounds like Season 7 will be revealing the endgame moral to The 100’s story, which will end with its one-hundredth episode. The condemnation of humanity’s willingness to survive at all costs and proclaiming everyone is horrible is not going to be the takeaway. So, what will it be?

Maybe, love will win out against everything? Fans are anxiously waiting to learn if art will imitate life and Bellamy (Bob Morley) and Clarke (Eliza Taylor) will end up together. Perhaps, the message is about hope? There is only one way to find out first, and that is to await The 100’s final bow.

The CW series is not the only one getting ready to say goodbye, so they are in good company. Supernatural and Arrow are both bidding adieu as well. Their final seasons will kick off this fall, while The 100’s last season will probably air next year.

Whether The 100 ends happily for its character will remain a mystery for a while longer. Finding out which characters will live to find out is much closer. The Season 6 finale should get fans in an endgame frame of mind.

The Season 6 finale of The 100 will air tonight, Tuesday, August 6 at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. The sci-fi series is one of the summer's television offerings airing new. You can currently watch the first five seasons of The 100 on Netflix, along with other new content.

Britt Lawrence

Like a contented Hallmark movie character, Britt happily lives in the same city she grew up in. Along with movies and television, she is passionate about competitive figure skating. She has been writing about entertainment for 5 years, and as you may suspect, still finds it as entertaining to do as when she began.