The 100 is nearing the highly coveted and rare fifth season, so when the cast and creator were announced to appear at SDCC there were countless questions fans had for the team in regards to the post apocalyptic series. Luckily, I had the opportunity to speak with the cast after being a hardcore fan from the beginning while covering the series since season one and I can confirm that they are truly a genuine group of people who have as much passion for the series as its fans do.

One hot topic for everyone seems to be the major time jump of six years (a lifetime for The 100) that will shake things up for the cast as we know it. Does this mean we could potentially lose any of The 100? Series showrunner Jason Rothenberg seems to have an opinion on it, saying “Yes, it’s possible [there was death] we followed them for 10 months and now we skip 6 years so some of them certainly aren’t out of harms way.” Rothenberg continued to hint at a changed Octavia when we are reintroduced to the grounder queen, adding, “Things under the ground got really dark and different when those in the bunker discovered they were trapped and the psychology of those people will be a hard realization.”

The actors have also have their work cut out for them with the time leap, which Bob Morley (Bellamy Blake) addressed. “I’ve got to figure out who he’s become in those six years. We start shooting in a few weeks and I still need to see how he’s developed as a person,” Morley adds, “we’ve only seen [Bellamy] during wartime and when the stakes are super high but it’s been years and they are no longer at war they are surviving in the ship and I don’t know what he’s been like as a pacifist.” As for Morley’s role in the fifth season, I couldn’t help but wonder if leadership could shift back to the Blake sibling and the actor had thoughts of his own, explaining, “I would love to see him [lead] one of my favorite seasons is season one because even though he was a bit of an idiot, moron or was just hated, I liked that he took a strong leadership position whether it’s good or bad.” Concluding, “Hopefully this season he can return to that but better than he had led before.”

Richard Harmon (Murphy) has been portrayed a fan favorite character who has experienced drastically different character development. From starting off very dark and later evolving to a team player, Murphy has covered a lot of ground and Harmon has an idea of what his ideal season five Murphy looks like. “I want to see [Murphy] start accepting himself as everyone else has since season four.” Harmon continued, “He needs to stop sabotaging himself but it’s who he is, I’d just like to see that progression enough to where he can recognize when he is [self sabotaging]” Harmon has a feeling that his character will be in an interesting predicament for the upcoming season, telling us “You can expect him to either grow or regress, especially with the fact that he’s in space. He’s so good at thriving under pressure and now he doesn’t have that in the ship.” The actor elaborates, “There’s no bad guy or praimfaya, or knife to his neck. Now it’s just day to day life and I don’t know how he’s going to take that so it really could fuel the direction of the character.” Harmon went on to say that he wouldn’t be opposed to more Raven scenes next season by admitting “My favorite scenes were with Lindsey Morgan as Raven. I think the characters have great chemistry,” concluding, “I’m curious to see how the six years has changed their relationship.”

Clarke is technically the only character we know is safe at the moment, having taken a young girl under her wing and Eliza Taylor says that the character will be a different woman. “Playing a 24 year old woman as opposed to playing her at 18, we’ll see her evolution into a maternal kick-ass mommy type.” I found myself very fascinated by Clarke being forced to step out of a leadership position and Taylor seemed to think it was a necessary aspect as well when she added, “It simplified everything for [Clarke] it was more like find food, look after child, stay alive.” Taylor then went on to insinuate that without the stressors of Polis, Arkadia and the other factions she can finally regain focus. As for the smaller routine of her character, Taylor says “You need some sort of routine to stay sane and she does the same thing every single day. Her calls to Bellamy, hunting, without having that [routine] she would lose her mind.”

In terms of character romance, Christopher Larkin (Monty) is one who when we last saw, had a stronger relationship at the end of the season. Larkin has high hopes for their relationship, stating, “I hope they worked or at least gave it their all because they’ve earned it and she’s his only real lifeline since Jasper is gone. [however] six years is a long time, not even in an apocalyptic sense.” Though he wants to see Monty undergo a physical transformation (we jokingly discussed 90’s frosted tips) Larkin would additionally be intrigued by the dynamic of the small group in space as he tells us, “I’d like to see a little battle between who goes back to the ground and who doesn’t.” He continued, “I feel like – why would you go back to the ground it’s a horrible place when you’re comfortable in space so I’d like to see some warring factions between the seven of us.”

It appears as if the fifth season is going to hold unique character growth for the primary cast and with everyone being separated into different places (space, bunker or roaming the tarnished planet) the fifth season will match the energy of its predecessors if not surpass its previous aspirations. Discussing one of televisions most consistently impressive and wholeheartedly entertaining series with a hardworking and passionate team was a fulfilling experience to say the least and I am entirely thrilled to see what season five has in store when The 100 returns to CW in 2018 – make sure to keep up with PopWrapped for more coverage of The 100!