'The 100' Prequel Series Pilot Ordered By The CW

Talk about starting off with a bang: The 100 is getting a prequel series, set right after a nuclear apocalypse kills off most of the human population. The CW series has been running for 6 seasons now, and a backdoor pilot for a The 100 prequel has just been ordered ahead of the seventh and final season. A potential 100 prequel has been a possibility for a few years, but now that the end is truly near for the main series, The CW seems ready to move ahead.

In The 100, "When nuclear Armageddon destroys civilization on Earth, the only survivors are those on the 12 international space stations in orbit at the time. Three generations later, the 4,000 survivors living on a space ark of linked stations see their resources dwindle and face draconian measures established to ensure humanity's future. Desperately looking for a solution, the ark's leaders send 100 juvenile prisoners back to the planet to test its habitability. Having always lived in space, the exiles find the planet fascinating and terrifying, but with the fate of the human race in their hands, they must forge a path into the unknown."

You might not think a show about the apocalypse needs a prequel – isn't everything technically a prequel to the apocalypse already? – but The CW wants one anyway. According to Deadline, the prequel series, which is still untitled, "is set 97 years before the events of the original series. It starts with the end of the world — a nuclear apocalypse that wipes out most of the human population on Earth — and follows a band of survivors on the ground as they learn to cope in a dangerous world while fighting to create a new and better society from the ashes of what came before."

The 100 showrunner Jason Rothenberg is writing the prequel, which will be introduced via a backdoor pilot in season 7. A backdoor pilot, for those who don't know, is when a main show introduces a spin-off with one its episodes. The CW attempted to do this before with their hit Supernatural, which included an episode in season 9 called "Bloodlines", meant to serve as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off called Supernatural: Bloodlines. However, a poor reception from viewers lead to The CW passing on the idea. Perhaps they'll have better luck with their 100 prequel.

The seventh and final season of The 100 will premiere next year.