The CWIf you thought things were going to slow down in tonight's finale of The 100, you clearly don't know anything.
In last week's episode, Clarke (Eliza Taylor) was tortured by her (brainwashed) mother (Paige Turco), and then watched that same mother hang herself in an effort to convince Clarke to take the chip and open herself up to A.L.I.E. It didn't work, and Abby was saved by Murphy at the last second, but it was damn near devastating to watch.
According to star Eliza Taylor, the devastation isn't over yet.
"I mean, it's The 100, so obviously we're going to up the intensity at any opportunity," she tells E! News, but part two of the finale will still be very different from part one. "[It's] a more intricate story that's about to take place...and it's a little less torture and a little more race to destroy the crazy A.I. before she destroys us."
In tonight's finale, Clarke will enter the City of Light in her attempts to defeat A.L.I.E. once and for all, and while Taylor can't tell us what happens, she does seem to think it will satisfy fans.
"I don't want to spoil too much, but I really believe that fans are going to be happy, and Clarke is going into the City of Light in a very different way," she tells us. "I love how our writers have put this finale together because reading it on paper was so exciting for me. I think it's one of our best episodes yet."
So that's some good news...but it's not all good news.
"There will be a death, but I'm not going to tell you which one," she teases, and she also confirms that the episode will end in a cliffhanger.
And if you're hoping to see Roan (Zach McGowan) again after he appeared to die in part one of the finale, don't get your hopes up. Not even Taylor knows if he's alive.
"I actually called Jason [Rothenberg] and I was like, 'Is Roan coming back?' and he was like 'I'm not telling you!'" Taylor says. "I hope Zach [McGowan] comes back because he's been such an interesting character and one that we really haven't explored yet, and I think there could be a really great camaraderie between Azgeda and Skaikru. Or not? Who knows! I'm hoping that he'll come back, but I honestly don't know!"
Another death that has seriously rocked this season was that of Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey)—the love of Clarke's life, and the leader of the Grounders. Clarke has barely had time to truly grieve for her loss in the frenzy over the flame in the following episodes, and it doesn't sound like she'll have any time in tonight's jam-packed finale.
"There are so many things she hasn't allowed herself to grieve for," she says. "I think she still struggles with her father's death, let alone the hundreds of other people who have died. That's certainly something I would love to explore in the next season. She's gone through so much loss and I know for anyone who experiences something like that, it's a process. And she's not there yet, she's really not. We'll see. I hope that they allow me to show how much she's grieving in the season to come."
Lexa's death sent shockwaves throughout the fandom, and many of them were felt by Taylor herself. However, she has nothing but love for the relationship she got to portray on screen.
"Look, it's such a sensitive issue. I didn't write it [Laughs.], and so it was a little bit difficult having anger directed at me for not being able to save her or what have you, but all I can say about it is that I am just so grateful and honored to be able to play a bisexual character who fell in love with a woman, with a person, and that we live in a day and age where we can portray that and that we've got this beautiful relationship on record forever, no matter how it ended. I'm a positive bunny and I just have to look at the good in it. Like, holy s—t, we can show two women loving each other unconditionally in 2016, and f—k yeah!"
For a show that is known for its darkness and its willingness to off any character at any time, season three has been particularly brutal, thanks to a huge number of deaths including those of Lexa and Lincoln (Ricky Whittle). If you've been taken aback, Taylor has too.
"Every time I think we couldn't get any darker, we just do. It's like, OK, so my mom is stabbing me in the chest now. It's mental," she says, but there's a silver lining to all of the darkness. "I'm so impressed by everything we go through on this show. [It] always ends up being kind of like, in a weird way, a message, a positive message, for the people just trying to survive. Like, sacrificing everything for the greater good and being there for your friends, which sounds so cheesy, but I really do believe that's actually what it boils down to."
However, it sounds like Taylor's ideal situation in season four would be to step away from that darkness for a while.
"I want Clarke in season four to find a beach crew, specifically in Hawaii, maybe on a boat. She just says, I can't do this anymore, and she finds this amazing crew and they just feed her margaritas all day and she has a really great time. That's what I want!"
Don't we all.
The 100 season three finale airs tonight at 9 p.m. on the CW.