‘The 100’ Prequel Set As “Backdoor Pilot” For The CW
The CW has decided they aren’t completely done with ‘The 100‘, as the set aside an episode of the 7th and final season to work as a “backdoor pilot” for a potential prequel spin-off series.
The original series, based a YA novel by Kass Morgan, began on a space station containing the last humans who fled into the stars following a devastating nuclear apocalypse on Earth, which, they believed, had made surviving on the ground impossible. When things begin to fail on their orbital home, they sent a group of 100 delinquents back to the surface to determine if it was habitable enough for them to return. The group of teens soon discover that they are not alone, and human life had indeed survived.
The untitled prequel comes from current developer/showrunner Jason Rothenberg, and is set 97 years before the events in the original series. The drama begins with the end, as the nuclear apocalypse decimates the human population on Earth. Rather than follow the group into space, the new drama is based around the survivors on the ground, learning to cope in a dangerous world while fighting to create a new and better society from the ashes of what came before.
Rumours of a possible spin-off had been kicking around for a while since Rothenberg teased he was planning his own prequel novel, based on the show and Morgan’s original novel. Earlier this year, he announced that he had written a prequel script.
The current ‘100’ series, which is due to end next year, has gone through a crazy number of changes over the seasons, from dealing with the “Grounders”, to the mysterious Mount Weather, radiation death waves caused by decaying nuclear reactions, and the arrival of a prison colony ship. The latest season saw them abandon Earth entirely and head for a new planet, which had its own unique set of problems!
The pilot for this new potential spin-off will air as an episode of the 7th and final season next year, so whether it goes to series or not, we will at least get a taste of what it could be like.
‘The 100‘ Season 6 is currently airing on E4 in the UK.
