The 100 showrunner says finale will make fans 'look at the entire series differently' at Comic-Con@home

Time is running out for The 100 as the CW's post-apocalyptic drama is in the midst of its seventh and final season — but time is a strange thing in the series' last epic act. The survivors of long-dead earth face a new threat, which (as of right now) is both unseen and located across time and space. Amidst all this craziness, the cast and showrunner found time to talk about the final season and look back at how far they'd come during Sunday's Comic-Con@Home panel.

The panel, moderated by Fandom's Eric Goldman, consisted of Marie Avgeropoulos (Octavia Blake), Lindsey Morgan (Raven Reyes), Richard Harmon (John Murphy), Tasya Teles (Echo), Shannon Kook (Jordan Green), JR Bourne (Sheidheda), Shelby Flannery (Hope Diyoza), and Executive Producer Jason Rothenberg.

"We started this season not wanting to leave anything on the field. The prequel episode answered a lot of the questions for over the last few seasons, such as why the bunker was empty when they found it," Rothenburg said of the creators' priorities going into the final season. He also stressed the importance of the problematic life-or-death decisions the characters have had to make over the years. "[Once fans] see how the story ends, they will come to look at the entire series differently."

Several of the assembled actors elaborated on how different things were for their characters in Season 7.

Lindsay Morgan's Raven is usually the "conscience" of the show, but this season, she went through her crisis when she willingly sent people in a situation that would mean certain death. In previous seasons, Raven had no problem calling everyone out and playing "Miss Morality." Now that she's had to make some of the same choices other characters have had to make, she understands them better.

Richard Harmon's arc as John Murphy throughout the show has always been one of self-preservation. According to Harmon, this season saw "a lot of wrinkles Murphy didn't see coming. [He's] falling ass-backward into a leadership role." It only took seven seasons (and hundreds of years), but Murphy is finally starting to embrace his heroism.

"This year was fun to play an actualized version of herself. [Octavia] was able to utilize the tools Bellamy taught her to parent," said Avgeropoulos, referring to Octavia's time raising hope on Penance/Skyring.

Teles, meanwhile hinted that Echo will have a season of self-discovery. She started as an enemy, but eventually found both friendship and love with the rest of the group. Now with Bellamy seemingly gone, she's on her own.

"Her biggest challenge is figuring out who she is without someone to follow," Teles said.

After some final goodbyes and thanking the fans, it was time for one last Q&A session for the series. Since its inception, The 100 has not been afraid to kill off characters. Some of them, like Harmon, had come to peace with the fact any time could be their character's moment. Others had to go through some stressful moments.

"During season four when Raven's mind was deteriorating, crew members came up to me and said, 'goodbye,'" Morgan said. Here she is three seasons later, not the nicest prank. "Was I the only one that I thought I was getting killed off every week?" added Teles.

The final questioner asked the panel if, on their first day, they ever thought the story would become what it is today. Every cast member on the panel answered with an emphatic "no!" With a few episodes left, perhaps The 100 isn't out of surprises yet.

The final season of The 100 is currently airing Wednesdays on The CW.

Click here for SYFY WIRE's full coverage of Comic-Con@Home 2020.