‘The 100’ Kills off Major Character in Season 6 Premiere

The 100 Season 6 premiere proved just how dangerous, and deadly the new planet can be for the band of Earth survivors.

Warning! Major spoilers for The 100 Season 6 premiere lie ahead!

As the first light shone on “book two” thanks to two suns, an exploratory mission to the new planet, which fans actually learned is a moon, saw the characters returning to the life-or-death struggle of survival.

In “Sanctum,” while many of the survivors remained on the mothership still in cryosleep, Clarke (Eliza Taylor) and Bellamy (Bob Morley) led a small group of survivors to the ground to explore their new home, though their mission quickly turned deadly after Miles Ezekiel “Zeke” Shaw (Jordan Bolger) ran straight into a radiated barrier while running from swarms of attacking bugs. Although Clarke was able to disarm the shield thanks to the Nightblood coursing through her veins, it was too late for Shaw.

“Tell Raven she deserves happiness,” he told Clarke in his final moments. “She doesn’t think she does, but she does.”

The death shocked fans, though showrunner Jason Rothenberg explained to TVLine that the decision to let Shaw go wasn’t up to him.

“The truth is, we lost the actor,” he said. “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.”

Bolger, who joined the series in Season 5, coming to the ground with the Eligius IV group after Praimfaya echoed in the second apocalypse, recently landed a series regular role on an Oprah Winfrey series called David Makes Man.

“The reality of production and people’s careers and people getting other jobs factors into the equation,” Rothenberg continued. “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.”

Although some may argue that Shaw could have simply been left in cryosleep, Rothenberg added that he had opted for the more dramatic twist, despite that it meant that Raven Reyes (Lindsey Morgan) would once again lose somebody that she loves.

“The universe apparently doesn’t want Raven to be happy. She can’t catch a break,” he said.

New episodes of The 100, which has already been picked up for a seventh season, air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.