Why The 100’s Divisive Ending Shouldn’t Have Killed Its Franchise Potential

The 100 had a solid seven-season run on The CW from 2014 to 2020, but its later seasons killed the show’s hopes of becoming a full franchise — and they really shouldn’t have. Set in a world where most of humanity fled to space after Earth became too radioactive to sustain life, The 100 sees a group of juvenile delinquents being sent down to Earth to see if it’s become habitable. This leads to some surprising revelations about the state of the planet, including the fact that humans called Grounders have been living there the whole time.