The 100 Boss Defends the First Major Death of Season 6: ‘There’s Pretty Much Only One Way Out’
Tuesday’s long-awaited premiere of The 100 didn’t just kick off the show’s sixth season; it also cracked open “book two,” setting our heroes on a dangerous new path that already claimed the life of a beloved character in its first hour.
I’m speaking, of course, about Miles Ezekiel “Zeke” Shaw (played by Jordan Bolger), who died after crossing a radiated barrier while exploring a dangerous new planet. “Tell Raven she deserves happiness,” he told Clarke as he took his final breaths. “She doesn’t think she does, but she does.” Clarke, who was not affected thanks to her Nightblood, did everything she could to save him — but it was too late.
“The truth is, we lost the actor,” showrunner Jason Rothenberg tells TVLine about the decision to kill off Shaw. “Jordan got a job on another show. He’s incredible, and I would have loved to keep him around, but we had a situation where we were losing him. The reality of production and people’s careers and people getting other jobs factors into the equation. We then have to think, ‘OK, how do we write a character off this show in an emotionally satisfying way?’ It’s not satisfying that he dies — it’s tragic and heartbreaking — but there aren’t a whole lot of options. It’s not the kind of show where a character takes a job in Seattle and moves. There’s pretty much only one way out.”
Rothenberg acknowledges that he could have simply left Shaw in cryosleep, but he opted for the more dramatic twist. “That’s the truth of it,” he says. “It sucks,” adding that “the universe apparently doesn’t want Raven to be happy. She can’t catch a break.”
Of course, if we’re being honest, it doesn’t seem like any of our favorites are going to catch a break now that they’re attempting to inhabit a planet that turns its inhabitants into murderous psychopaths during eclipses.
Other premiere developments worth discussing…
* Kane nearly joined Shaw in The 100‘s great beyond when the ship ran out of algae serum and his body couldn’t handle another surgery. Fortunately — or not, depending on how you feel about Kane — Abby was able to return him to cryosleep and prolong his survival.
* Speaking of Kane, Octavia — who was awoken by Nylah — was less than thrilled to learn that her blood had been used to save Kane. “You were too weak to do what had to be done, and then you ran, became a traitor and made a deal with our enemy that you knew they would never keep.” (Honestly, I’m not sure whose side I’m supposed to be on right now.)
* More internal conflict: Despite Abby’s attempts to apologize (“What I did to you with the collar was unforgivable”), Raven wasn’t about hear it. “Mind if we don’t talk?” she said after asserting that “some of us never lost [our humanity].”
Your thoughts on The 100‘s sixth season premiere? Grade the episode in our poll below, then drop a comment with your full review.
thought it was a good season premiere, i thought the ending was awesome and opens up a lot of questions!!
1. who took the jumpship?
2. where do the people of Alpha Moon (formerly Planet-Alpha) hide?
3. is Murphy going to be a douche nugget all season?
4. does Octavia just need a snickers candy bar?
Ah, the power of the snicker bar…
I vote for a muzzle for Octavia. A Snickers Bar is to good for her.
I don’t think the writers know what to do with Murphy exactly. They keep flipping him from jerk to redemption arc to jerk every season. I guess they need 1 constant jerk character in the show and he’s it.
Murphy seemed on the path of redemption. He really played his inner jerk up. Did he not get enough sleep?
Zeke death by giant bug zapper was a bit of a shock.
No pun intended.
Too had they killed Shaw, because it was nice to see Raven happy. She’s going to bame Clark for this of course. Looking forward to how this season plays out, already wondering if one of The 100 will make a play at replacing the current Prime, because that’s generally how things shake out: whoever is s currently in charge will turn out to be evil and Clark or Octavia will work to replace them!
*too bad
I was really hoping season 6 would be end of Clarke being the scapegoat for literally everything, but I guess it’ll just continue the trend
Well it is continuing from last season. No time jump. Give em time
I’m still waiting for Clarke to quite literally call each and every person who has ever criticized her out on their shit, because she has saved each and every person on this series twice over. No one has had to sacrifice anywhere close to what Clarke has, and no one has faced the decisions she’d had to make yet still held onto her humanity. So yeah, if Clarke doesn’t get a moment this season where she gets to collectively tell this selfish self centered bunch to just STFU already and deal with their own problems and the fallout from their ridiculously stupid decisions already, I’m going to be really disappointed.
Sidenote: how has the actress playing Clarke not looked at the writers, cocked her head and asked “WTF… seven seasons in and you can’t figure out something better than ‘everyone blames Clarke?'”
I was thinking the same thing. Up until she put Maddie over them, which wouldn’t have been necessary if Belamy hadn’t gone behind her back to use her against Octavia, everything she did was for them. How easily they forget she stayed on a burning planet facing almost certain death to ensure they could escape and have a chance to survive. And are any of them free of any bad decisions? Bizaar.
I think JRoth uses that exact reasoning, verbatim, for any ‘dramatic’ character death when the actor has other commitments. Get a new kick dude. Sigh. I’m to the point I don’t like any of these characters. There’s nothing redeeming about any of them. Hard to watch something like that.
I mean, I understand why he kills off characters when the actors become unavailable. The 100 isn’t a show somebody can just walk into the sunset and disappear forever.
The thing is, they could have just put him back in the freezer rather than kill him off. The only reason they had to kill him off was because of his importance to the central plot with Raven.
Poor poor Raven.
While I think the story will get along fine without him, I don’t want another Raven Pity-Suicide party.
He was the only straight black male character on the show. He had to die, JR has a problem with Black men. He kills off shaw,but Kane lives???? RICKY WHITTLE was right about JR, He killed off the only black male Wells because in the books they were supposed to end up with his brother Bellamy
What was he gonna do with him? The actor wanted to leave.. you pretty much have to kill him… it wouldn’t make sense to leave his character in stasis.
I was loving this episode and then they killed shaw and it brought back the sour taste in my mouth from what happened to Wells Jaha… And I was pissed the rest of the episode.. Granted hearing that the actor got something else softens the blow.. But the track record for this show( that I still love) isn’t great and its constant torture of one of two Latina characters isn’t much better.. Maybe its all a coincidence that wells dies early but boring AF Finn gets to hangout around and whiny Jasper lasts for seasons on end… Why Lincoln gets killed like a dog in the rain… Maybe its us minorities being overly sensitive… But it doesn’t feel that way to me
Finn and Jasper both died before Jaha.
What are you talking about, Finn and Jasper died long after Wells Jaha did?
He is taking about Wells Jaha, the son of Thelonious s Jaha
Yeah… this show has a propensity for off’ing the colored people first. Can’t really fix it now since there’s no more characters to add other than whoever they pick up along the way from the remnants of the colony/colonies, and you know they’re not going to become main characters.
But as of this season, this show really has become a different show, since they’re not going to turn around and go back to earth.
Mainstream media always promotes gay black men and kills off the straight attractive ones. So typical. It is a YAAAAAWN.
What are you talking about? Straight black men in the media outnumber gay black men by about 30 to 1. You are delusional.
What a rollercoaster! The 100 writers really know how to smack us in the face! We’re eased into things with a little bit of romance. Then we’re hit with the anger, the hurt and the pain of past actions. Then we get death which I really wish was a Disney Death. Sprinkled in between are some great Murphy one-liners and the spectacle of him singing. The ending leads nicely into the events of 602. I really think the people in the woods (or Grounders 2.0 as I like to call them) took the jumpship and therefore are the hijackers.
Rothberg is a dick. “Apparently the Universe doesnt want Raven Happy” cause YOU write it that you Dick!. Shes a punching bag every season
I agree. The biggest disappointments in this show come because Rottberg has issues he takes out on the actors and they leave.
I had the same thought. Raven suffers the most because the writers choose to make her suffer the most. JR chose to kill Shaw even though he admits they had the option of putting him in cryosleep. He chose to kill him instead, probably because he was mad the actor took another gig even though that’s what actors do. Shaw could’ve gone into cryosleep until the actor’s schedule allowed him to return but they chose to get rid of him instead. The only reason Kane wound up surviving is because HIC is one of the few actors JR seems to like.
I love this show. I couldn’t wait for this season to start. Great cast. 💪
I mean, was he really that beloved??
Can any one explain the red sun book Clarke was looking at
Did you watch the episode ? Lol
how did they print the book? I noticed the writer was a Nightborn
Hated how Shaw died, but I understand that it needed to be done, and the way it was handled was the only way. And I really hope they find a way to cure kane permanently. He doesnt deserve to be out of cryo off and on.
It was a great episode as always. The plot is unpredictable and you start to wonder what would happen next. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Clarke and the rest of the crew. We still have 12 more episodes so to all folks out there who complain a lot about the show, just chill. Better things will happen. People die esp in TV series like this, so get it over with guys. Just enjoy the show. They are doing great in this show.
No, I just think the writers loves to torture Raven and make her as miserable as possible at this point.
Evidenced by Rothberg’s “Apparently the Universe has it in for Raven and she cant be happy” douchebag comment. He could change that but apparently loves beating up on Raven it’s so old and tiring
I just started watching this show 2 months ago. I watched all 5 seasons. I got hooked!! I had a feeling Shaw was gonna die when he went.. Poor Raven. Anyways!! Great Show!!
Can someone please refresh my memory as to why everyone hates Clarke now?
I think a lot of people still haven’t forgiven her for everything she’s done in the past. Specifically for right now, I think it had to do with her working with Diyoza and McCreary in order to save Maddy from becoming Commander, while potentially sacrificing everyone else. Doesn’t matter that they’re on a new planet now, there’s still a lot of baggage to unpack with these characters, which is part of what makes this show so amazing. 125 years have passed but things that happened in the first few seasons are still very much a part of the current story.
Still annoys me though, because she did that to protect her child, and you’d think they’d have some compassion for that, especially considering how many times she risked herself to save their behinds before that. Short term memory about all of the self sacrifices she’s made, long term about the mistakes
That pretty much describes all of the self centered idiots on this show. None of them are capable of seeing and accepting their own mistakes, and all of them seem to prefer finding a scapegoat (generally Clarke) rather than admitting that they screwed up.
that was a very excellent and strong first episode back!
tbh i’m not all too upset to see shaw go, he hadn’t been around for too long yet and his relationship with raven barely got anywhere before he died.
it’s interesting tho, to see the reactions to his death are somewhat the same as when lexa died, but the truth is simple; if they can’t use the actor anymore, they need to come up with a way to write them off. lexa would never leave her clan or clarke, so the only option was death. and zeke would never just stay off screen and while raven goes out to live her life, so the only option was death. i think sometimes, people don’t keep this in mind, they just wanna be pissed at showrunners.
.
i’m gonna blame murphy being a jerk again on the red sun, because he’d been doing so well last season.
Uuughhhh Octavia!!! Still the worst!!!
LOL, she just had a 125 year power nap and she’s still cranky.
yeah, she’s so annoying…
Uh, yeah he just showed up last year and was a completely forgettable character. He could have died while frozen and it wouldn’t have bothered me. Are people seriously upset over this?
What are the chances that Raven gets pregnant by Shaw now that he’s dead? I’m actually surprised that none of the people on the ring got pregnant when they were up in space for 6 years.
Let Kane die.
Yes. And stop killing off the straight black men. Too many shows on TV has the black person gay. really? What agenda is this?
i want kane and abby dead i completly abhor those 2 .. im annoyed theyre letting kane linger
and I so agree with Octavia.Those 2 holier than thou asswipes who caused so much trouble .. and both actors annoy me as well abby with those annoying bug eyed staring.. .. Itll make the show better if she dies and her daufghter goes crazy .. keep me watching
PS Octavia and Murphy are my fav. Octavia bec sheet. just because .. almost every leader has been “cruel” and done evil for those she/ he considers their people to survive.. quit whining people. And I adore Murphy hes the comic relief this doom and gloom and angst show needs. And I like Raven bec shes one tough bitch tougher than even Clarke in many ways … As for the rest Bellamy annoys me a lot but hes tolerable.. the side characters dont care if they live or die .. and as i said about cant friging stand abby and kane.. hell they were annoying from the begining and as they started to get power they went that to just arrogant holier than thou pissy whiney .. bug eyed idiots.. Im repeating myself but i want them dead. in a glorous fuked up way .. so Clarke goes insane.. I usually dont care if a show kills off even main characters as long as it keeps the show interesting (unlike most of you i have zero loyalty / obsession ) BUT if they kill off Murphy and or Octavia I just might leave .. K end of rant haha