The 100’s incredible journey is coming to an end. The show will be bidding farewell after 7 seasons. The final episode of the series will fittingly be its 100th episode. The final season premieres May 20, and the beloved CW series has so many twists and turns left to reveal. At the end of last season, fans were left shocked when Octavia disappeared in Bellamy’s arms after being stabbed by Hope. This opened up a lot of questions about where Octavia went and what the final season holds for her.
HollywoodLife talked with Marie Avgeropoulos about what those final moments of the finale mean for Octavia, and she promised that we will get answers. She opened up about playing Octavia Blake for 7 seasons and calls it “the most rewarding experience” of her life. The actress admitted that she’s “happy” with how Octavia’s story comes to a close but be on your toes because it’s anything but predictable. Read our full Q&A below.
At the end of last season, Octavia disappears in the middle of this anomaly after being stabbed. What can you tease about what this Anomaly is?
Marie Avgeropoulos: That’s a very good question. So the last time we saw Octavia was with Bellamy in the season finale. They finally rekindled their relationship after Bellamy ultimately abandoned her for dead, and they managed to reconnect and understand each other on a deeper level. But then, in pure 100 fashion, Octavia disappears again at the end of the season. As soon as things turn a bit positive, it always gets turned upside down pretty quickly. But the mystery of where she went will be uncovered this season, and you will find out a lot more about the Anomaly and who Hope is and why she stabbed Octavia. Why did she just disappear in Bellamy’s arms? There’s a lot of questions that will be answered on Wednesday when the show comes out.
Octavia was stabbed, and it was pretty gnarly. Is she OK? Is she not OK?
Marie Avgeropoulos: The cool thing about sci-fi worlds is it could be both, which has made it really fun for me as an actress to play Octavia Blake because, in a lot of these worlds and potential storylines, anything is possible. I’m excited for everyone to see if she has a pulse or not.
How do you feel about Octavia’s arc in the final season?
Marie Avgeropoulos: This season is completely unlike all the others, and I’m so grateful that the writers have created such dynamic and ever-changing worlds. The way Octavia gets to wrap up her own storyline is unlike any other experience, and potentially emotion, she’s felt in a really long time.
What’s that been like for you to really experience that with her over the course of 7 seasons?
Marie Avgeropoulos: It’s been the most rewarding experience I think I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve had the honor to play Octavia Blake — I’m not going to tell you how many episodes because then I’m telling you if I live or die — for a very long time. I started the show I think when I was 24 and now I’m a 33-year-old woman. I feel like we’ve grown up together. The characters I play, I always put a bit of myself into them as well. I’m really proud of all the work the cast and the crew and the producers and the writers have done in this world that they have created. It’s been so much fun for me as an actress to play her. She’s never boring. She’s always ever-changing. I would always be surprised when I got to work and picked up a new script and flip the page. I never knew what direction she was running or going or coming… you name it. As dramatic of a character as she is, I’m so grateful that she also got to be a warrior, and I got to show my athleticism within the character at the same time. To play a character that was really dramatic, but also athletic at the same time, was so much fun. I’m a Gemini, there are two sides of me. It was such a joy to play her, and it was just weird not being able to really say goodbye to any of my cast or crew or even put Octavia to bed in my own mind either. Because we literally finished just before the lockdown happened. We didn’t even have a wrap party to celebrate or hug each other and say, “Hey, it was really awesome working with you for the past almost decade of my life.” It just roughly ended and we all walked in from shooting a fake apocalypse and walked straight into a real-life one.
Looking back, is there a moment for your character that you’re most proud of or one that just sticks out in your mind?
Marie Avgeropoulos: There are so many. I feel like I don’t want to disservice that question when literally I can go through the Rolodex of my mind. If I could think of a couple, that cannibalism scene was really challenging for me as an actress. I literally was throwing up off-camera. When I play any character, I put so much of myself into it that I even believe my own bulls*t. So it was really hard for me to even convince the room of 100 people who were present in that cafeteria to get on board with the plan of eating other human beings that were potentially someone’s brother or sister. The storylines are so crazy and, at the end of the day, it was jello with food coloring and food chunks in it. I don’t even know what the heck was in it. They sprayed it with water to make it look slimy. Just the whole idea of it was terrible. But that stuck out to me because I’ve heard from a lot of people that they’re still disturbed by that. That’s a serious answer about one that sticks out. On a lighthearted note, Paige Turco, Henry Ian Cusick, and I were having a very serious scene and I noticed there was a water sprayer that they used to spray walls with on movie sets to make things appear really shiny. So I decided to spray it at Paige’s crotch for over five minutes. It looked like she wet her pants while she was doing a very emotional scene. I already knew that they had the performance down. I didn’t disrupt them. It was much after they did it 900 times and got it in the cap. But she took it like a champion and chased me all around. With doing such serious storylines on The 100, you’re often faced with really difficult decisions and situations in this world that was created for us. We always made sure we started laughing and joking in between takes because you just can’t chat about cannibalism all day. You have to keep it light.
Octavia and Bellamy were at a really good place at the end of last season. What have you loved about exploring this brother-sister relationship? Octavia and Bellamy’s relationship has been crucial to the series since day one.
Marie Avgeropoulos: It’s been such a pleasure to work with Bob Morley, who everyone knows plays Bellamy Blake. I just felt really honored to have one of the only family relationships [on the show]. Bellamy was very protective over Octavia since she was the second child when that was literally illegal on The Ark due to their one-child rule. She became very rebellious and didn’t like authority or listening to her older brother. The back and forth relationship between these two siblings, the idea of sibling rivalry, is completely accurate here. I find them very relatable as siblings. I really enjoyed working with him over the years. We always made each other laugh. If I felt nervous or insecure or uncomfortable, he made me feel comforted. I’m just really happy that people are enjoying watching Octavia and Bellamy fight and come together.
I know you have to be super cryptic about this, but are you satisfied with how Octavia’s story ends?
Marie Avgeropoulos: Absolutely. One of the biggest pleasures for me playing Octavia Blake has been the fact that I feel like the audience never knows what she’s doing and who she’s becoming. What hat is she going to put on today? She metamorphoses herself more than I could imagine me even doing this week. I don’t think I’ve washed my hair as many times as Octavia has changed her personality over the years. But I am happy with her ending without giving too much away. Because again, it’s going to be another shocker and it’s not a typical emotion that you’ve seen from Octavia before.
One major aspect of Octavia is her physicality. Are you going to miss the stunts?
Marie Avgeropoulos: I’m so grateful that the writers started maneuvering their words on the script according to my skill set. They realized that she plays drums and she can ride horses and she has taken martial arts classes. They started writing Octavia that way, which was so enjoyable for me but also for the viewers. They literally judged her at the beginning as just a woman who took her clothes off and jumped into the lake, and then she became a leader and a warrior and someone that a lot of people admire and look up to now. I’m so grateful that she went from one place and took a complete left and a right. She changed and I had such a pleasure playing her among 100 other reasons.
Have you thought about how you’re going to say goodbye to Octavia in your own way?
Marie Avgeropoulos: I already did. Even though we didn’t get to say goodbye to one another, I’m always going to keep her in my heart. I’ve asked for Octavia’s sword, so maybe it’ll show up in the mail one day and I’ll hang up on my wall. I feel really lucky. When I audition for The 100 to play Octavia Blake, I jumped on a chair in the audition room and I had to scream, “We’re back b*tches.” That feels like a lifetime ago to how far she’s come now. Octavia is somebody that, if I met her, I think I would really admire so I’m grateful for that.
Where do you want to go from here when it comes to acting? You recently did some voiceover work on Wonder Woman: Bloodlines.
Marie Avgeropoulos: I don’t know what the new normal is going to look like once we all are allowed to go back to work and not be working remotely from home. By the sounds of it, doing voiceover work sounds like the safest thing. Maybe everything is going to turn into cartoons because movie sets won’t be allowed anymore because of the high volume of people in one place at one time. I don’t know. I wore braces for so long in high school and my mama paid for that. Maybe I’ll do something that’s like a comedy. Something a little lighter where I don’t have to cry every day and think about things that bring me down, especially during these times. I would really like to eventually go back to work and make others laugh. I really enjoy that myself.