5 Burning Questions 'The 100' Season 5 Must Answer

Even for a show known for throwing curveballs, the end of The 100 Season 4 is a doozy. Not only does The CW’s post-apocalyptic drama take a staggering six-year jump into the future after its second apocalypse, it also introduces the concept of other humans in space.

Spoilers for The 100 Season 4 finale follow.

Season 4 revolves around the preparation for a nuclear meltdown — also known as Praimfaya or the Death Wave — that will render Earth uninhabitable for five years. Eventually it’s decided that Octavia, Indra, Abby, Marcus, Miller, and hundreds of grounders will wait it out in an underground bunker. Meanwhile, Bellamy, Raven, Monty, Murphy, Harper, Emori, and Echo return to the Ark to wait it out in space.

Clarke is originally part of the space crew, but in the season finale, “Praimfaya,” she stays behind to get the Ark power working for her friends. She intends to sacrifice herself — and her friends think she did — but her nightblood enables her to survive the Death Wave. The final five minutes of “Praimfaya” catches up with Clarke six years later, where she’s confusingly still alone on Earth. Bellamy, Raven, and their group have not returned, even though it’s been safe for a year, and the bunker crew has also not emerged.

When a space ship appears, Clarke is ecstatic that her friends are back at last … but the ship is much larger than the small ship they took into space. The side of it says “Eligius” and “prison transport.” Cue the burning questions for Season 5.

1. What the hell happened in that bunker?

Octavia, Abby, Marcus, Indra, Miller, and hundreds of grounders are underground in a bunker. As they weren’t exactly thrilled to be there, it’s unlikely they stayed inside for an entire extra year by choice. But it’s equally unlikely that they’re all dead. Even for a show with a body count like The 100, it would be surprising to kill so many main characters off-screen. Creator Jason Rothenberg has indicated that Octavia is still alive and part of Season 5. Therefore, the likely answer is that they aren’t emerging from the bunker because of some mysterious circumstance keeping them inside. What could it possibly be?

2. Who is “we” that Clarke refers to?

The final five minutes reveal that Clarke has been speaking into a radio to Bellamy every day for six years. Even though she’s not sure if he can hear her, that connection has enabled her to keep a grip on her sanity and sense of self. But when she tells him about trying to dig out the bunker, she says “we.” It’s then revealed that she has a companion, a fellow nightblood named Madi. Are there more nightbloods Clarke has formed a small clan with, or are Clarke and Madi the only part of “we?”

3. Who owns Eligius and how did so many Arkers not know about them?

Eligius — which is the logo on the mysterious ship — is an asteroid mining penal colony that was briefly referenced earlier in Season 4. As Jackson told Abby, Becca originally made nightblood to help criminals on space missions withstand radiation. Since Abby was surprised to hear this, and Clarke clearly has no idea what “Eligius” is, this raises more questions than ever. How did high-ranking Arkers like Abby not know about fellow humans mining in space? And if Eligius is corporate, who owns it?

4. If Bellamy, Raven, Monty, and their group aren’t in that space ship, where the hell are they?

The curve ball of Eligius leaves a few unexpected options for Bellamy, Raven, and their space crew. They might have encountered Eligius in space and joined forces. They might have become their prisoners. They might have been forced to mine in space, which is why they stayed an extra year. But if they aren’t on the Eligius ship as their friends or their prisoners, then where the hell are they?

5. Will clans and krus still exist in Season 5?

There’s no doubt that Season 5 will be different than any other season. After all, a lot changes in six years. The 100 will no longer be a teen show, as everyone is now in their mid-to-late twenties, and characters will have suffered experiences the audience has not been privy to. Assuming everyone meets again, how different will a new society be? Will there still be Trikru, Azgeda, and Skaikru? Are there even “Grounders” anymore? Or are the days of separating and classifying people into factions gone forever?

There is no word yet on when The 100 Season 5 will premiere … but hopefully it won’t take six years.