Octavia (played by Marie Avgeropoulos) will have a lot to atone for when The CW’s sci-fi action drama The 100 returns for its sixth season. Season five was a wild one for Octavia as she enforced brutal rules to keep those in the bunker as safe as possible. Season six will find Octavia dealing with the repercussions of her actions and the fallout from fracturing relationships.
Marie Avgeropoulos took part in the 2019 WonderCon where she did her best not to give away spoilers during our roundtable interview. The sixth season of The 100 debuts on The CW on April 30, 2019.
Murphy’s been described as the cockroach in the series. How would you describe your character as an animal or insect?
Marie Avgeropoulos: “If I were to describe Octavia as an animal, I would describe her as a butterfly because she starts in a disgusting cocoon and then she flies. But she always, you know, might not land in the greatest places.”
Octavia went through a lot last season, and there was obviously tension between her and Bellamy. Will we see that resolved or will that be a running storyline throughout the season?
Marie Avgeropoulos: “It was challenging between Octavia and Bellamy, of course, because Bellamy poisoned Octavia and then Octavia, which was at the end Blodreina, threw Bellamy into the fighting pits. So, it’s kind of unforgivable acts on both ends and it’s to the extreme of brother and sister rivalry too. So, it’ll be interesting for the fans to see in season six how they come together and what the outcome is.”
How did it feel to see the fan reaction to the screening of season six episode one?
Marie Avgeropoulos: “Well, I hadn’t seen it either, so I kind of was like enjoying to hear the fan reaction to the very beginning and all the way throughout to the end because I was trying to compartmentalize it between them and me. I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ because you know when you’re filming you don’t see the other actors’ performances if you’re not in those scenes. So, it was amazing for me to see all my cast and my co-stars and my friends throughout their most amazing performances too. I just felt proud.”
Did anything feel particularly different heading back into this season?
Marie Avgeropoulos: “Other than I’m in my 30s now and I started this in my young 20s? Yeah, I’m just so thrilled to be a storyteller that fans are still into the story that we’re telling. I’m just incredibly grateful.”
Octavia’s been the leader so what kind of role will she have on this new world?
Marie Avgeropoulos: “Well how do I tell you this without telling you anything at all? It’s always the hardest. They’re like, ‘Don’t tell them anything but talk to them, okay?’ As you tiptoe in and try not to lose your job.
What can you expect from Octavia this year? Well, you can expect that you know when you hit rock bottom there’s only one way to look and that’s up. With Blodreina she had to make a lot of really tough decisions. A lot of those decisions, you know, came from like Abby explaining about cannibalism. That was such a crazy, awful, unfathomable idea to even do but she says, ‘If everybody doesn’t eat the guilt is going to happen and then there will be chaos. Do it.’ So, Octavia had to shoulder a lot of these choices, you know what I mean?
So yeah, I played a villain, but Octavia had to do it because otherwise there would have been chaos in the bunker because it was a bunch of clans that hated each other trying to survive together. It was a really complicated mindset because she was never born a leader and she was forced to lead. So, Octavia’s got somewhere to go next season to heal her heart, heal relationships, and she spends a lot of it alone and in her own head.”
It’s heartbreaking because even with the people who are loyal to her like Indra, she’s not sure where she stands.
Marie Avgeropoulos: “Indra trained Octavia to become a warrior and I just love Adina Porter, like I just looked up to her as a mentor in real life. She’s such a great actress and woman. Hi, Adina, if you’re watching this.
Anyways, but yeah it was challenging for Octavia to hear from Indra that she had lost her way. And Blodreina knew that but she had to keep on going just to survive until that moment when they came through and broke through the roof of the bunker and Bellamy came down. But otherwise, yeah, Octavia did get lost in the lust of power. She probably loves that. She was like Trump or something.”
That’s a theme that’s going to continue?
Marie Avgeropoulos: “Or, she finds her heart again and tries to mend relationships. It could go either way.”
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