The 100 prequel series just took a giant step forward, which is news that will undoubtedly help salve the wound that is the original preparing for its final season. Back in August, it was announced that The 100 would return for Season 7 with the caveat it would be the series’ last. Now come positive tidings for the series, as a new prequel is coming together at The CW.
The CW is helping move the prequel along in a significant way by greenlighting a backdoor pilot written by 100 showrunner, Jason Rothenberg, which was a move similarly executed by Supernatural in the past (although hopefully will have better results). In doing so, The 100’s prequel will get tested out via an episode of the original series in Season 7, per Deadline.
It will be a while yet before viewers get a chance to glimpse the episode, and at this point, The 100 prequel does not have a title yet, but we do have some details about what is coming.
The 100 prequel is actually going to be set 97 years prior to the original. That’s right! Not 100 years before, which seems like the obvious tie-in! Exactly 97 will be the prequel’s magic number. The series will begin after the nuclear apocalypse brought about what was kind of the end of the world. It destroyed most, but not all, of the Earth’s human population. Hence, the prequel will follow a band of survivors who will be struggling to live in a dangerous new world.
At the same time, the survivors will be working toward developing a society better than the one that came before. Considering how Earth’s initial fate played out, that sounds like a reasonable game plan for The 100 prequel characters to take.
There will be 16 to choose from before the series wraps, but fans will need to stay tuned to see which episode of The 100 will end up housing the backdoor pilot. Although it's worth noting The 100’s showrunner, Jason Rothenberg, is back on board to executive produce the prequel along with fellow 100 executive producers, Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo.
The 100 joins Game of Thrones and the Lord of the Rings television series in opting for a prequel-based story for their spinoffs. It is important to note that having a greenlighted pilot is different from a full-blown series order. Fans of The 100 will have to stay tuned to see how the prequel’s progress turns out and whether it ultimately ends up on the air next season.
In the meantime, those fans have the final season to look forward too. After a penultimate season that saw the departure of more than one original character, the series is heading towards the finish line. Will art end up imitating life when it comes to Clarke and Bellamy? Will The 100 have a happy ending? The series’ showrunner has weighed in.
Find out after this fall when The 100 returns for its seventh and final season in 2020. You can currently watch the first five seasons of The 100 on Netflix, along with other new content.
