Bob Morley from The CW’s The 100 made the trek to the 2014 WonderCon in Anaheim (think San Diego Comic-Con but on a much smaller, more-manageable scale) to discuss the sci-fi series and what audiences can expect from the episodes remaining of season one. Morley also talked about how he views his character (‘Bellamy’) not as a bad guy but one who has his own agenda and motivations that don’t always necessarily come across as heroic.
Bob Morley The 100 Interview
Is it good to be bad?
Bob Morley: “It is good to be bad. It’s a very interesting thing to play, but I don’t know if he’s necessarily completely bad.”
Self-serving?
Bob Morley: “Yeah, to a point. But I think as the story progresses you’ll see his reasons behind that. But yeah, it’s very kind of a selfish thing.”
Have you known your character’s motivations from the beginning, because there’s always been an implied morality?
Bob Morley: “You know, I had known a little bit about it but only really learned the depth of it as we were shooting the season. I don’t know if it was a good or a bad thing had I known more about where his backstory then, possibly I could have played it too much. I just tried to play it in the middle and then as we learn more and more, then it became more clear and easier for me to guide my character in a certain direction. They created a great arc for my character, the writers and Jason [Rothenberg].”
Do you have any idea where they are going to take next season, if there is a season two? Have they said anything?
Bob Morley: “Oh man, no! I remember when we just finished shooting the pilot and we sat down in the writers’ room being given the first season. They had all these ideas about where we were going to go and then we started shooting it and all those ideas they’d initially said didn’t really come to fruition. So, for me to guess about what might be happening next season would just be ridiculous. I mean, you hear some things but I wouldn’t bank on it. The show just becomes so expansive by the end of the first season, it’ll be interesting to see where they go with it.”
They’ve been killing off all season, what can we expect?
Bob Morley: “I wouldn’t say it calms down but it definitely carries on in that kind of nature where no one is really safe. If we’re going to talk about next season…then maybe I’m not there. Who knows? If they carry on in this fashion, yeah.”
Are we going to get into more about how humanity got to this point where such rules have been set into place?
Bob Morley: “Yeah. I guess you’d call it the mythology of where we are gets explained further down the track. And even with the use of flashbacks, you can kind of see how the society came to be. But there a few episodes further down a lot of people talk about how things came to be and how the space stations came together on the Ark. That will be explained.”
The relationship between Bellamy and Clarke feel like they’re natural leaders. Will they get drawn closer together?
Bob Morley: “I think the situation definitely brings them closer together. They definitely grow closer together. I think the show hints at the fact that in order for the 100 to live, the two leaders can’t be at loggerheads with each other. There has to be some sort of common ground and they have to comprise their stances. As it continues on, they definitely grow together but they’re always going to be conflicted because they go about problem solving in a very different manner.”
So there’s nothing romantic happening there?
Bob Morley: “I think like romance gets complicated and especially with the situation that the kids are in, it’s hard for that to bloom in such a tough situation. But I never say never. You have to just keep watching.”
Last we saw he was sleeping with two women at the same time.
Bob Morley: “Yeah, I don’t know how he wrangled that. I don’t know how he convinced two women to sleep with him. I think because Bellamy establishes his tent very early on and his bed, maybe he’s the only guy in the camp with a proper bed so there’s a line-up for people to get in there.”
Can you talk about physically shooting these scenes? There’s a lot of action going on.
Bob Morley: “It becomes so much more involved throughout the storyline and the action really ramps up. Not only that but the weather gets quite freezing up in Vancouver when it turns to winter. That was quite…I wouldn’t say an ordeal, but it was tough. But we had such an amazing stunt department who – I mean, I love doing that stuff, I love being physical so we had a fair chance, all of us actors had a real fair go at having to get to do our own stunts so that was exciting. I think doing that and being within the action really helps the performance.
But yeah, I remember reading a couple of episodes as it goes on and it really kind of explodes like about two or three episodes from here. It just becomes quite action-y.”
Was there anything you asked to do but they wouldn’t let you?
Bob Morley: “No. They kind of let me do a lot of my own stuff. But there were a lot of times when the stunt coordinator would stop me because he’d be like, ‘You’re getting too into this and you’re going to hurt yourself.’ I really want to do them and I try really hard, because I don’t have the proper techniques for it and I end up hurting myself. Sometimes they have to protect me from myself. But they let us do all the stunts that we wanted to do. Everyone throughout the show gets to do it.”
The 100 is based on a book. Did you do any research on your character after you got the role?
Bob Morley: “Well I read the book but we were probably about three or four episodes into shooting by that point. I think it got released around the same time. I enjoyed the book but we differ quite markedly between the show and the book. Bellamy was much nicer in the book.”
Has there been any response from fans that has surprised you?
Bob Morley: “I thought Bellamy was quite a douche but because you have to empathize with your character, I always saw that he had a good heart and I’m surprised that people can actually see that as well. That’s a credit to the writers and the director and everyone doing their job. So that was a really a pleasant surprise that he actually has fans because, luckily for me, there was another character, Murphy – Richard Harmon – who came on and he was like the ultimate evil so he took a lot of the brunt.”
Watch the interview:
