The 100 Season 7 Premiere: What We Know About Hope

One of the most intriguing questions left unanswered by The 100 Season 6 finale was the arrival of an all-grown-up Hope (who came through the Anomaly and promptly stabbed Octavia). The 100 Season 7 premiere doesn’t disappoint when it comes to her character. While we don’t learn much about her past (mostly because she herself can’t remember), we do get to spend more time with her. And she’s kind of great?

Den of Geek had the chance to chat with The 100 showrunner Jason Rothenberg about the upcoming season. He hinted that Hope might be the key to understanding what the Anomaly represents for the narrative arc moving forward, saying:

We knew that time wasn’t behaving in the Anomaly because of Hope. When Diyoza went into the Anomaly in Episode 608, she was still pregnant, and three days later, Hope comes out of the Anomaly in 613. And she’s 22 years old. So we know that time is something that is misbehaving on the other side.

Time certainly is “misbehaving” on the other side, but we’ve yet to have the chance to truly comprehend what that has meant for the characters we know and love (or at least spent some on-screen time with while they were a fetus). Most of what we know about Hope still comes from the Season 6 finale. Namely, that someone—a “he” (possibly Sheidheda, that guy’s a jerk)—has her mother, Diyoza, and that he has seemingly leveraged that to get Hope to stab Octavia, prompting her to disappear back into the Anomaly.

Rothenberg noted that The 100 is actress Shelby Flannery’s first job out of drama school, and that he couldn’t be more impressed with her performance so far, which is poised to be an important one in the coming season.

“She was great in [audition] moments,” recalls Rothenberg, “but you just don’t know and we were hanging so much story on that character that, if she wasn’t great, then SOL, as they say. As it turns out, Shelby’s amazing, she leaps off the screen, and I cannot wait to see what she does next because her career is just starting.”

The most interesting aspect of Hope’s character so far is that she seemingly has a close relationship with Octavia. When O says her name in the Season 6 finale, it is filled with warmth. Even after Hope has stabbed Octavia, O tells her: “Be brave. Tell him it’s done.” It feels like a maternal relationship. Could Octavia have helped Diyoza raise Hope during her previous bout in the Anomaly?

The 100 Season 7 premiere certainly backs this up. In it, we see Hope hallucinate Octavia. It certainly seems like a memory and, even if it’s not, it is no doubt influenced by Hope’s previous interactions with Octavia (even if Hope currently can’t access those memories). The hallucination of Octavia tells Hope: “You have to stay quiet. No matter what you hear, you have to stay quiet. Mommy and Auntie O will come back for you.”

In the second episode, “The Garden,” we learned that this was in fact a memory, and a painful one at that. Octavia said it to Hope while hiding her away in the cabin on Sky Ring to protect her from the Disciples who came from Bardo after they found Octavia’s note that she intended for Bellamy.

As we suspected, and this hallucination suggested, Octavia and Diyoza did indeed raised Hope together—at least for the first ten years of her life. Jason Rothenberg shared that, “Octavia is in love with that child as if she was Hope’s mother.” Considering Hope’s tracking abilities, brusqueness with Echo, and the way she cited, “my mother, my responsibility,” Octavia’s influence is all over Hope.

The other big clue both Hope and the viewer gets to Hope’s past is the message buried in her arm. It tells her: “Trust Bellamy.” Apparently Hope put it there, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to remember anything on the other side of her trip, though we still don’t fully understand how memory and travel via the Anomaly/bridge works. In any case, bad news bears: Bellamy is currently MIA, having been nabbed by the cloaked people who came through the Anomaly. We see in one of the Disciples’ helmet view screens confirmation of his capture, as well as their missions to eliminate Hope and to bring Echo and Gabriel to Bardo.

We’re presumably going to get some more answers about Hope’s past, Bardo, and everyone who needs to be rescued as the season continues. You can read more about what’s coming in The 100 Season 7 here.

Who do you think is the “he” Hope is talking about when she stabs Octavia? Can the others trust her? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.