'The 100' Spinoff: Everything We Know

Plot

Serving as a prequel to The 100, the spin off series will be set 97 years before the events of the original series, or around the same time the nuclear apocalypse swept through the world and caused the space stations to form the Ark. The spin off, however, will follow the survivors on the ground, where the majority of the human population has been wiped out. As the survivors band together to rise from the ashes and build a better society, it will depict the birth of the culture current fans of The 100 know to be Grounders.

Fans, of course, have gotten a few glimpses of the world before the Grounders and Skaikru met. In Season 3, Episode 7, titled "Thirteen," Becca notably traveled back to Earth from Polaris, also known as Station 13, in a last-ditch effort to save the world after her artificial intelligence ALLIE launched the missiles that destroyed the world. Making herself a nightblood, she and the remaining survivors became the first Grounders.

Becca again appeared in a flashback during her death at the hands of Cadogan's Second Dawn cult.

In Season 6, fans also got a glimpse of the world pre-apocalypse in a scene involving Josephine Lightbourne.

Title

Currently, the title for the prequel series has not been revealed. It had initially been reported that it was tentatively dubbed Anaconda, though showrunner Jason Rothenberg later dispelled those rumors, revealing that Anaconda was instead the name of the backdoor pilot episode set to air during Season 7 of The 100.

Premiere Date

As the prequel hasn't been ordered to series, it doesn't yet have an official premiere date, though it will be introduced as a backdoor pilot, meaning that it will air as one of the 16 episodes in The 100's seventh and final season. The tactic follows the likes of Legends of Tomorrow and The Originals, fellow The CW shows that were also first launched as backdoor pilots.

Meanwhile, Season 7 of The 100 is set to air sometime at midseason, meaning fans still have a few months to wait before getting their first look at the spinoff.

It's Filming in Vancouver

Although the potential sequel hasn't officially been greenlighted for a full series order, production on the pilot episode is already underway. On Feb. 10, Rothenberg confirmed that there were only two days left of filming. The series, just like the rest of The 100, films in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Cast

Given that the series is set 97 years before the delinquents ever made their trip to the ground, it comes as no surprise that there will be fresh faces, with Deadline reporting in February that Carnival Row's Iola Evans, Riverdale's Adain Bradley, and Why Women Kill's Leo Howard are all set to star.

Evans will take on the role of Callie, who, while whip-smart and passionate, also has a rebellious streak and spends her time fighting for causes she believes in. After the first apocalypse "devastates the world she had been working so hard to save," she will have to search for "new purpose, and future, for all that remains of humanity."

Portraying her hard-working and headstrong brother Reese, Bradley's character has spent his entire life in a competition against Callie, though when the opportunity for him to come out on top presents himself, "he must figure out what lines he is willing to cross."

Rounding out the cast so far, Howard is set to take on the role of August, a passionate musician who also belongs to "a radical environmental group dedicated to saving the planet by any means necessary." When the apocalypse destroys everything he had been fighting for, he must figure out how to move on.

Famliar Faces Behind the Camera

Although those who will become the face of the series will change from the actors and actresses currently gracing the screen on The 100, fans can be assured that not everything will be new. Rothenberg, who has acted as showrunner on the post-apocalyptic teen drama since it's inception, will return to showrun the prequel.

The 100 executive producers Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo will reprise those roles for the prequel.

It's Been a Long Time Coming

The would-be-series may have only been announced several months ago, but it has been in the works for years. Speaking at WonderCon in April of 2019, well before he announced the series would be coming to fruition in the form of a backdoor pilot, Rothenberg teased that he "may be working on something."

"We may be working on something. Can't talk about it," Rothenberg said, TV Guide reported at the time. "I'll probably get in trouble for saying that.""

Richard Harmon, who portrays Murphy on The 100, had first tease the news before Rothenberg's comments, telling a fan that he "would want to see one where...the beginning of the spin-off is the first bomb going off. And everything of like the people who become the Grounders, the people who survive, them dealing with kind of everything. I think that would be spin-off I'd want to see."