‘The 100’ Star Luisa d’Oliveira Talks Emori’s Continued Evolution in Season 6

Emily Hannemann April 22, 2019, 11:00 am

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In theory, very few characters on The 100 should’ve been happy to see Earth go up in flames. But one character would’ve had reason to cheer when the nuclear warhead hit: Emori (Luisa d’Oliveira).

Earth, or rather, the Grounder culture that cast her out and forced her to fight for survival, had never been kind to Emori; she seemed to find her home only when she left the surface and spent six years in space. Despite that, d’Oliveira believes Emori’s feelings about Earth wouldn’t have been so cut-and-dried — and that leaving it behind for six years helped her character take huge steps forward.

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We chatted with d’Oliveira about Emori’s found family, the tumultuous (but now steady?) relationship between Emori and Murphy, and how we can expect Emori to react to a whole new world.

It was great to see Emori as part of a family with Spacekru last season. What did that mean to her?

I think it meant everything to her. I think it was the next stage in Emori’s journey of growth. In the beginning she knew who she was, but she had very aggressive and complicated feelings toward anyone who was an outsider to her — who was basically everyone, until she met John Murphy. And then she found love, and partnership, and found that she was a lovable person. Which is important for anyone, and especially someone who has a physical deformity. And then the next stage for her was realizing she could trust people, and that she could count on them and they could count on her. I was so happy for her to have that.

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Emori and Murphy had a falling out on the ring, but Emori falls for him again on the ground. What do you think was the catalyst for her realizing she still loved him? Or do you think she never fell out of love with him?

I don’t think she ever really fell out of love at all. I think there was just so much pain, because when you love someone so intensely, you can hate them, too. I think if she didn’t care what happened to John Murphy, then she didn’t love him anymore. But I don’t think that ever happened, which is why it was so borderline venomous between them on the Ark before they came down.

Can you tease anything about what’s to come for them in Season 6?

I can say that they left the ground thinking they were close to permanently losing each other, and Emori refused to leave him. Again, they put their lots in with each other. I think that was a really significant moment for them because when the chips are on the table and you have to play the hand, it shows you what you’re willing to do. It showed Emori what was most important to her. We’re going into the season with that, so there’s a good chance they’re going to start off with every intent to honor that.

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How is Emori feeling about leaving Earth? That was a place that wasn’t terribly kind to her. Is she happy to be in a new place that doesn’t have that painful history for her?

I think she’s grown a lot, and I think there would be a part of her that’s still very sad to leave Earth. Especially in the way that they did leave, with it being destroyed. Even though she’s experienced so much pain, that was still her home. And when they went back to the ground, there was so much teamwork and it reinforced the bonds she had with everyone up in space. So I think she did have a chance to re-experience Earth in a different way.

But she is a very adaptable person, so I think there is a part of her that is excited about this new adventure. She never would have thought that she’d be in space, that she’d be able to use technology, that she’d have this kind of a family, let alone that she’d be on a new planet. I don’t even know if she knows what a planet is! She probably didn’t know the Earth was round. So I don’t know what she was believing in, but she definitely had a lot of education from Spacekru.

I was going to say, I bet Raven taught her some things…

Oh, yeah. She was probably like, “Girl, you need some help. We’re gonna give you a brain makeover.” [laughs]

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How is Emori going to feel when she learns what happened to Harper and Monty, and when she meets Jordan?

She will feel incredibly heartbroken. That will be laced with being happy that they had a good life together, and that they were able to live peacefully in the way Monty was always fighting for. And she’ll be very grateful to them as well, since they’re the reason why we’re here, now, in this new solar system with this new planet. But there haven’t been many people in her life who she has become close to and who have gotten close to her, so I think losing two is pretty devastating. That’s probably something she’ll feel for the rest of her life, because they were some of the first to come into her heart.

And meeting Jordan has got to be surreal. Especially just looking at him and seeing the resemblance.

Oh, that casting was perfect!

Perfect. We were all talking about it at the time — and obviously we couldn’t say anything, because nobody knew… you can see resemblances, with Chelsey and Chris. But I think it’d be a pretty surreal experience for Emori, and she’d instantly want to get to know him. And she’d feel responsibility for him too, a bit. We’re all kind of godparents to him, in a way.