Photo Credit: Marc Cartwright.

The Season 1 finale of THE 100 starts tonight with Part 1 “We Are Grounders,” airing on The CW at 9/8c.  After an episode full of fighting, medical emergencies, a little horizontal dancing, and a ton of story lines up in the air (including Clarke literally dangling up in the air), I spent some time chatting with bad-ass bullet maker Raven (Lindsey Morgan) about what’s coming (she used the word “insane”), how her character could easily have been made a villain, and what it’s like as an actor looking for scoop on a show that is secretive and explosive all at once!

Congratulations on Season 2.  Everything is coming up THE 100!  So tell me everything that happens in the final two!
Okay, yeah. [laughs]. Sure, and the Second season? Okay, sure! [laughs]

We left with so many cliffhangers going into tonight’s part 1 of the finale – what can you talk about what we’ll see next?
Yeah, I mean, this last episode – there was a ton of cliffhangers!  I love how the writers have been so great about “The Calm,” even as actors, it was like, the calm AFTER the storm, because we had the big storm episode in Episode 10, so in Episode 11, we’re just going to chill out a bit!  Then it was like, they meant the calm BEFORE the storm [in the finale]!  I remember watching and live-tweeting, it was like “Oh my god, I forgot this happen!” Finn’s gone, Clarke’s gone; they’re separated and gone.  Everyone is split everywhere; everyone is missing in camp, and also, the Ark situation – what is going to happen there?  I don’t know what I can tell you! [laughs]. The finale is going to be insane!  And the finale is definitely maybe the ultimate test of survival for everyone.  Together in THE 100.  Outside THE 100.  Everyone is literally fighting their own singular battle for survival.  It’s interesting in the finale seeing what this is for everybody, because everyone is different, basically.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed throughout the season is that you’re not sure a show would go somewhere, and they go there.  One minute, Charlotte’s killing people and you think “oh they’ll never execute a child;” suddenly, she jumps to her death.  The baby grounder dies – it’s so realistic that things don’t always work out!
Yes, it’s great! 

What is it like reading the script and seeing how big they are not afraid to go?
They’re very, very good at keeping the secrets in the script away from us actors, but we were very, very good at finding things out [laughs].  We made it a game almost to see who could find out what’s going to happen next, and I had my web of resources in the wardrobe department, they would slip me [something].  We’re just as eager as anyone watching about wanting to know what happens.  You’re exactly right – when something is unexpected and they go there, especially me – I’m a guest star.  I’m always like, okay, what do you do to me, because I’m ultimately expendable!  They can really have their way with me! [laughs]  I want to know.  I’m protective of her.  I don’t want to just read a script and see “oh I’m dead!” That’s not a nice way to find that out.  As far as other stuff – it’s just as shocking.  I remember getting the script for the Bellamy/Raven scene, you know the one, I don’t need to explain [laughs], and being floored, like WHAT?  It was like, Raven!! No! It’s so against it, thinking that Raven would not do that!  It’s so promiscuous [laughs].  It was funny, when I had the script, everyone had the script, from the makeup people to the crew, and everyone was talkng about it, and it was interesting.  Everyone had different reactions.  There were some people who agreed with me; there were some who were like, oh I think it’s hot. There were some that said “that is so sad” and it took me a while to say, okay, I’ve been in situations where you want to do anything you can to stop the hurt in your heart, you want to numb it, you know?  They always throw us good, good curveballs.

I was talking to someone about how a character like Raven could easily have come in as a plot contrivance between a Finn and Clarke love-story.  It’s so much more than that.  She’s so much strong than; she’s so above the typical triangle that we maybe have seen in the past, or are used to seeing.  It gives so much weight to the characters.  It’s not just this girl coming between the two that have had a connection.  Did that draw you to her?
I agree with everything you said about the triangle – it’s a triangle, but it’s not exactly what you think.  I’m in the same point.  What drew me to the character was unemployment [laughs].  I’m serious, I needed a job, but then I loved her.  She was such a badass, and so cool, I thought, this is great.  Then my function is a love triangle, and it was like “eh” this is what’s in, this is what’s hot, so this is what they sell, and I was going to give it the best that I could.  As it went on, as we were filming, it did become more.  Raven becamse more.  I think the writers weren’t expecting that.  They were not expecting to make it more.  I think something happened in the early days of the show – where it started to where it ended, it’s almost two different shows.  We started in a very safe place.  Very CW charactery – that’s great, The CW is a great network but the creator Jason kept talking about making it a little different.  I want to make it a different show on The CW. I want to push the envelope. I want to make it like THE WALKING DEAD, I want to make it like GAME OF THRONES. I want to make it darker, more.  With that, kind of all of the relationships kind of got pushed into a less “contrived” manner.  You do have this love triangle, but it’s not just a love triangle.  It’s a love triangle in the middle trying to survive for your life on an alien planet.  Things have priorities – staying alive is one of them!  It just so happens that you feel this way about this person, but that’s the second thing on your mind, which is something that I enjoy.  I love the relationship that Raven and Clarke have.  They respect each other, and see a lot of commonalities in each other, the way Abby saw in them. Raven never hates Clarke; but it hurts, and Clarke never hurts Raven.

It feels mature in that way.
Yeah!  I like how complex that is. How many times have we seen a love triangle, and there’s a cat-fight and the girls fight.  It’s like, COME ON! That’s what I love about the show – there’s some strong women.  We weren’t taken down by the boys, and they didn’t make us have a cat-fight, and they especially didn’t make Finn the winner.  I think Finn is the one who lost the most!  I like it kept evolving into something more, which I really loved and enjoyed doing.

Have there been discussions about where it goes for Season 2?
They like to hide stuff from us.  They like to mess with us!  Jason threw out a thing about someone being pregnant on Twitter!  And I was like, well, we’ll see how that’s going to play otu [laughs].  I honestly don’t think he meant it; he was feeding the frenzy, stirring it up!  I don’t know about second season. Second season is second season – i don’t even know if Raven will be around, honestly!