‘The 100’: Marie Avgeropoulos on the Fallout From Octavia’s Tragic Choice

Ever since she exited The 100‘s drop ship four seasons ago, Marie Avgeropoulos’ Octavia Blake has gone from what could have been a cookie-cutter “bad girl” to a certifiable badass.

But with that warrior life, comes warrior losses and, lawdy, has this petite fighter faced a mountain of woes. Her Grounder beau Lincoln (Ricky Whittle, who is now on Starz’ American Gods) bit it, her brother Bellamy (Bob Morley) habitually discounts her abilities, she’s been used Reaper bait…and her killer instinct has caused the skai ripa a lifetime of emotional pain, as well as a litany of casualties.

Related

The CW Renews 'The 100' for Season 5

However, Octavia could be heading down a new path now that she has been forced to free her newest, um, ally Ilian (Chai Hansen) from this mortal coil following Wednesday’s Hunger Games-ish conclave battle for control of the bunker (which also claimed Roan and, thank god, awful Luna) in the “Die All, Die Merrily” episode. In fact, if the gang can survive the impending nuclear apocalypse, Avgeropoulos promises a “transformation” of this show’s sword-wielding secret weapon.

Oh my god. Could things get any worse for this woman?!
Marie Avgeropoulos: Yeah. She’s gone down such a dark path since the death of Lincoln, and I think her morals and everything have become incredibly skewed this season. She hasn’t found her place once more. She’s been accompanied by Ilian, whom she has learned a lot from, but didn’t really realize she had learned anything until his last moments after Echo murdered him in the conclave—she was cheating and betrayed everybody. Yeah, I don’t think Octavia realized how dark she has really become until Ilian’s death when she recites the prayer back to him. That this is the beginning of our next journey. It didn’t seem like she was listening a lot of the time, but I think Octavia learned a lot from Ilian and his Trishanakru ways.

There’s so much hurt in her already.
Oh yeah. Octavia has so much hurt living inside her, so much darkness and so many walls up, that it’s really, really difficult to allow people in. I know it’s really devastating for her. The worst death for her in that episode, was Ilian, because he didn’t die with honor. Echo was cheating, and to see him go that way, to have to take his life as a mercy kill, is incredibly sad. It was really hard to shoot that scene as well, because we just, you know, cranked out this crazy fight sequence and then had to shoot that very, very emotional scene.

With Pike, you at least got to kill him and then walk away. With this you had to do the death and be there for it.
Yeah, yeah. Exactly. I had to be supportive of him while killing him! And they developed such a very odd relationship this season. They were almost stuck together, you know? In the cave, they were stuck together because of the acid rain, and then she tries to go to the farm because she has nowhere else to go. He tries to constantly reach her, and he saw the light within Octavia’s darkness. He really appreciated that about her, and he taught her a lot. I think Octavia is going to come out the end of this because of the things he taught her.

Marie Avgeropoulos as Octavia and Chai Hansen as Ilian in the ‘Die All, Die Merrily’ episode of The 100 (Bettina Strauss/The CW)

Okay, so what is the fallout for her now?
Well, the fallout for her, and the next challenge that they’re facing is that, she won the conclave, but Skaikru stole the bunker because they didn’t believe she could pull it off. Once again, Octavia is in that same position where she proves to her people that she’s good enough, that she’s worthy and deserves respect, and nobody’s there to support her once again!

Praimfaya is coming, the next apocalypse is hours away, and now they gotta figure out a way to get that door open because otherwise, you know, she just went through all that, won the conclave that nobody thought she would win, for absolutely nothing.

Does this help her reconnect with the Clarke and company? I feel like, if she spent more time with them, she might feel more comfortable in that place.
I don’t know. Again, Octavia’s always been the black sheep character out of all of them. She’s not ever really been welcomed with open arms since day one. You know? She’s always been the girl under the floor, and the animosity she holds towards Jaha, and the leaders for floating her mother, growing up. Then, you know, they never supported her when she was marching towards Trikru and into the arms of Lincoln. I don’t think she’s ever felt comfortable around them. She’s felt more like she’s really belonged around Indra (Adina Porter). They have this sort of maternal relationship, even though they’re not related.

They really are a great pairing.
She’s learned almost everything she knows from Indra the past couple seasons. When Indra gives Octavia Gaia’s sword, that’s an incredible honor because Octavia knows that if she wins that’s the end of Trikru, because at that moment she didn’t make the decision to share the bunker. It was at the end that she really made that call, when she really reminds Octavia that who you fight for is up to you. It really shows the transformation of her thinking…she is incredibly equipped with her warrior skillset, but now you’re going to also see a leadership side from her as well.

Good, because they need it.
[Laughs] Yeah, totally. You’re going to see another layer and another transformation from Octavia. That’s why I love playing her so much. She’s constantly changing.

When are these people going to realize it’s never a good idea to bet against Octavia?
I don’t know! Nobody else sees it, I guess. Sucks to be Octavia sometimes. Then she decides to snap because nobody ever believes in her, but she usually delivers. [Laughs]

The 100, Wednesdays, 9/8c, The CW