Eliza Taylor on ‘The 100’ and Playing Clarke

Eliza Taylor The 100 Interview
Eliza Taylor at the 2014 WonderCon (Photo © Richard Chavez)

Before The CW’s The 100 cast took to the stage in front of fans at the 2014 WonderCon, the gorgeous Eliza Taylor sat down to chat about her character in the dramatic sci-fi series. Taylor revealed she’s happy Clarke’s a leader of the group and that she has complicated relationships with just about everyone on the series, including her mother. She also talked about what fans can expect from the big season one finale.

Eliza Taylor Interview

Do you want to see a point where Clarke’s decisions aren’t questioned?

Eliza Taylor: “When I first signed up for the show, I was really worried that I was going to be that character that people would [groan about] because she’s so serious and wants to get things done. The rest of the characters have a bit of a sense of humor about them. But the response has actually been really, really great. I’m really happy about that. Something that I did kind of fear I now really love about her. I think that she should keep that mentality. She’s the only one on the show who has it. She’s kind of holding it together. I’m all for it.

When I get a scene where I smile, it’s amazing. I’m like, ‘Oh my god she laughs in this scene!’ That just doesn’t happen very often so it makes it more special.”

Will we see more of the different sides of her, including a softer side?

Eliza Taylor: “I love the sort of cheeky scenes with both Finn and Melanie. I think there’s some great moments because they obviously don’t like each other, but they respect each other. They don’t care what either one thinks about each other, so they can say really mean things and it’s kind of funny to watch for the audience. And then Finn definitely gets to see the lighter side of Clarke, that’s about as light as she gets in this series. Doing episodes four and five was really fun to sort of show a softer side.”

How does her relationship change with Finn moving forward?

Eliza Taylor: “It’s an interesting one. Clarke’s whole mentality is, ‘I can compartmentalize. I can put this whole situation in a box, put it away, and just get back to survival mode,’ which is what the show is really about. I think you see her certainly struggling with these feelings she has, but she’s very putting it away to deal with what’s at hand like the grounders and radiation.”

Will we ever see her not be able to continue to compartmentalize things as the show goes on?

Eliza Taylor: “Yeah, I think it gets messy which is great. It was so much fun to play to see her… They were very clever in the way they did this because we start the series all clean and pretty and pale, and then we get dirty and sweaty and bloody. The whole thing, you see the characters sort of emotional breakdown but it’s linked with this whole look being broken down throughout the episodes. I think they were very clever in doing that and it definitely helped me as an actor.”

Can you talk about her relationship with her mother?

Eliza Taylor: “It’s a very complicated relationship with her mother. I think the writers have found a very clever way of establishing some sort of communication and seeing how both are feeling about the situation. I think it would be silly to see them make up so soon. It’s such a heavy situation; her dad’s dead because of her mom. You’re definitely going to see a struggle between the two and hopefully some good communication as well.”

What can you tease about the finale?

Eliza Taylor: “The finale is epic. I haven’t seen it yet and I’m really excited to see it. What I like about it is it’s two-parts. The two episodes together are like a feature film of their own, which is so cool. Yeah, just expect some…I don’t even know what to say…the biggest twist yet is coming so stay tuned.”