Yes, it’s true! The 100 is getting a season 5, expected to premiere in early 2018.
Despite the cast and crew being openly optimistic about a season 5 renewal, we weren’t gonna dare to believe it before getting official word: And now, we can confirm that The CW has indeed committed to a fifth season of the dystopian sci-fi drama series.
For its fourth season, The 100 has found itself comfortably in the mid-to-low ratings range of The CW’s programming; in general, Nielsen ratings for the network have dropped, even as social media reach and online viewing has picked up. But The 100 has a particularly strong, passionate fan base and has been bolstered by its strong performance on Netflix, which clearly contributed to the network’s decision to renew it.
The 100, which is currently midway through its fourth season, originally focused a group of delinquent teenagers who grew up on a space station orbiting a radiation-soaked future Earth.
As the Ark was failing, the teens were sent down to the planet to test its survivability, and soon found that while the air was breathable and the water was drinkable, there were far worse horrors hiding in the glowing forests.
Because the Ground wasn’t as empty as the space refugees had come to believe; soon, the delinquents and the Ark survivors who joined them were battling not only Grounders but the dreaded Mountain Men, AI technology, and each other.
In The 100 season 4, the survivors, led by teen heroine Clarke Griffin, are facing their greatest challenge yet: The Earth itself is turning against them, another nuclear apocalypse forcing them to band together to find a way to ensure mankind’s survival.
Showrunner Jason Rothenberg recently told Hypable that season 4 “ends in a way that keys up the next season in a big way.”
Star Bob Morley, who plays Bellamy, added in a separate interview that both the cast and fans would be “infuriated” if they didn’t get a season 5, because “it definitely feels like they have so much more story left to tell by the end of the season.”
Related: Why The 100 is the best political show on television
Rothenberg also has another series cooking at The CW: Searchers is set to follow a pragmatic brother and a free-spirited sister who discover a road map that will lead them on a journey to discover the great legends, myths, and unexplainable mysteries of the world.
The pilot has been picked up by the network, with Rothenberg and the Arrowverse’s Greg Berlanti serving as executive producers along with Sarah Schechter. Zane Holtz and Alex McGregor have been cast in the lead roles.
It is not yet clear how Rothenberg will split his time between the two series if The CW picks up Searchers for a full season, though Deadline reports that The 100 might add a co-showrunner if this becomes an actuality.
Now that we’ve got official confirmation that The 100 season 5 is happening, we can finally start wildly speculating about just how the story can carry on after the world has presumably ended (again). I know I have some theories! What are yours?
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