The season premiere of THE 100 focused primarily on Clarke’s journey over the last six years and ended with a glimpse into the rings in space, where Bellamy and his crew have been. However, the group of arkers and grounders in the bunker were not really seen. Instead, tonight’s episode focuses on what happened to this group of people over the last six years and establishes how Octavia came to rule over these warring clans.
During a visit to the set of THE 100 in the fall, we spoke with several cast members about life in the bunker and the evolution of “Wonkru”.
Wonkru is born from hardship. As you can imagine, it isn’t easy for Octavia to unite a group of grounders who don’t like one another to begin with, particularly since she isn’t a true Commander. “Wonkru is the mantra that Octavia lives by, definitely, but it sounds easier than it actually is to achieve, so she comes up with this very destructive and dark path to create peace,” Marie Avgeropoulos (Octacia) said. “Of course because it’s THE 100 it essentially does the opposite, like how dark can we possibly take it and we definitely take it to some really dark places don’t we?”
Avgeropoulos went on to hint that “You’re going to see (Octavia) five years later and she takes a very creative way to help all the clans get along, there’s a lot of old resentments among all the clans and old resentments don’t die. So she has to come up with a very Octavia way to maintain order among the groups and you’ll see exactly how that is in season 5. There’s a really interesting dark twist in season 5 that we can’t tell you much about it, but resources are running extremely low and actually come to a halt so we have to come up with a new tactic…”
“A creative way of surviving,” Adina Porter (Indra) cut in, while Avgeropoulos went on to say “of nutritioning our bodies…”
Indra’s still sticking around, Porter explained, helping out as Octavia tries to establish herself. “I’m still the general, and [Indra and Octacia] get to spend a lot of time together since underground there aren’t a lot of places you can go. I get to spend time with both [of] my daughters, my faith based flame keeper daughter, Gaia, and my warrior daughter, Octavia.”
When asked how Octavia is faring without having her brother Bellamy around, Avgeropoulos said “You know, we all started the show when we were all a lot younger, on and off screen. So it’s different to see what Octavia has become without her brother, to steer her in the right direction and it gives an opportunity for other characters like Indra to give her advice, and try and keep her head on straight. So it’s definitely a good season to see the independence, whether she makes good or bad decisions in season 5.” Porter went on to add “But, you know, it’s amazing how social us human beings are, so even if you don’t have a family member by your side we figure out ways of creating family members chosen from the people who we are lucky enough to survive right by. People we need support [from].”
As for the role that Octavia specifically will play in this new “family”, Avgeropoulos said that “The time of the commanders has passed. There’s a new sort of way of thinking, [one] that not everyone sort of agrees with. That will be another thing that will send everyone into a tizzy, but Octavia has a couple of different nicknames. She started as Skygirl and then Grounder Pounder and she’s certainly not that girl anymore, but you’ll see who she is soon.”
Jarrod Joseph, whose character Miller is also in the bunker, said “Octavia is a bad, bad little boss right now, so [Miller’s] loyalty is with her. I think you’ve kind of always seen my character as a solid, loyal friend and I guess this is just an expansion on that. Yeah, I’m her partner. I’m her right hand.” He went on to hint that life in the bunker is “Dark. Dark and nasty. Not warm. Not smiley and stuff like that. Some have handled it better than others. You’ll see that. I think ideally, you want to be wonkru. Some characters have been more open to it than others, but there’s still a huge hierarchy system there and stuff like that. The idea is that we are one but some people are having a tougher time than others, I would say. [A tougher time] adjusting and accepting the new regime, new life.”
Don’t miss an all new episode of THE 100 tonight (May 1) at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
