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‘The 100’ Creator Finally Apologizes To Fans For LGBT Character Death

By Alexandria Ingham
Published on: 02:36 PST, Mar 29, 2016

Jason Rothenberg, the creator of The 100, has finally apologized to fans for the controversial LGBT character death. While he recognizes that this is a show set 130 years in the future, the viewers still watch it in a 2016 world.

The 100 is a world where gender, sexuality, and race have little meaning. They do not stop people climbing to the top to be a commander or chancellor, nor do they turn heads when relationships develop. The show is set 130 years into the future, but Rothenberg learned the hard way that his show’s fans are still very much in the 2016, and that means one specific character death caused major backlash.

LGBT fans were outraged at Lexa’s death two weeks ago. They have called for a boycott when the show returns this week, especially due to the way Rothenberg hyped up the relationship and killed her off, seemingly unnecessarily. Of course, fans have no idea what is to come, but right now they are extremely, and arguably rightfully, upset.

They knew Alycia Debham-Carey, who played Lexa, was leaving the show. She is currently on AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, and the writers and showrunners of The 100 knew they only had her for six episodes. They only way her character could realistically come out of the show was through death, and that happened in Season 3, Episode 7.

While fans are not directly angry at the character’s death, they are angry about the way it happened and the build up to the death. Lexa had finally had a moment of happiness. She and Clarke had shown their love for each other, and Lexa was the happiest she had ever been—both onscreen and offscreen on The 100. She was then killed by a stray bullet, meant for the main character. For many, it reminded them of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Tara was killed off with a bullet meant for the titular character. Others were just angry that it came so quickly and so suddenly after her moment of happiness.

Some LGBT fans took to Twitter to share their disappointment and anger at The 100 creator. He shared content from those who supported him at first, but later spoke out in defense of his actions and said that he never expected such a backlash. Now, he has admitted that he should have realized that The 100 fans would have taken this death negatively. While he never intended to fit into the “Bury Your Gays” trope, he now admits that he has done and he is sorry for that, according to Fansided.

“My sincerest hope is that any of our fans who saw a part of themselves in the relationship between Clarke and Lexa can take some small comfort in knowing that their love was beautiful and real.”

He now says that while he would have kept Lexa’s death in the show, he may have handled the build up differently. Something he would have done would be to not praise the Clexa relationship as much, how The 100 was such a progressive show. This set up more heartbreak for fans, who believed there was hope for the two characters.

Lexa is dead and is not coming back, despite a campaign for that to happen. However, that does not mean Lexa will be forgotten about on the screen. The 100 takes physical and emotional pain seriously, and people do not just get over events. Jasper is struggling with the pain of losing Maya back in the Season 2 finale, and Raven was still struggling with the loss of Finn, despite him being killed off earlier on in the show. Clarke will not just forget about Lexa, and will have a lot to deal with whatever comes next.

This could be a major turning point for Clarke, as it is not the first person she loved gone. Rothenberg knows that it does not make up for the loss of Lexa, but hopes The 100 fans will take away the fact that Clexa was “beautiful and real.”

[Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images]

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