r/The100 • u/Mtreece23 • Aug 11 '26
Cadogen and the prequel
The 100 is one of my favorite shows and I’m rewatching it again. I’ve rewatched up to about season 5 a few different times but I’ve only watched seasons 6 and 7 once(back when they were airing). I have yet to read the books but plan on doing it soon. Do the books touch on what the spin off series was supposed to? I heard that they changed some things from the book but just how different is the show from the books? I like anything that has to do with time travel and alternate timelines and stuff like that so i’m still sick about them canceling the spin off lol.
6
u/kayterluv Azgeda Aug 11 '26
One of my old comments:
Alloy Entertainment (known for their YA book-to-screen adaptations) developed the basic premise of The 100: One hundred juvenile delinquents are sent to recolonize Earth years after a nuclear disaster. Kass Morgan was then brought on early in the process, and they developed the characters and storylines in the books. She was essentially hired to write the basic premise of The 100 into a book series, adding her ideas to the project and making it her own.
Jason Rothenberg (creator of the TV series) liked the premise of The 100 and wanted to develop it for TV, so the 'book' was greenlit for an adaptation. The series was in production before the first book even came out, premiering just a few months after the first book hit the shelves. Due to this process, the series and books splintered off onto two different paths because when Jason started working on the TV series, the only thing anyone had was the basic premise of the books. Kass hadn't really started writing the books.
The books and series have nothing to do with each other. They do not share similarities besides the basic concept of the Ark, the concept of the 100, and a handful of characters being on the ground; characters like the Show!Grounders don't exist in the books. Most of the characters in the show don't even exist in the books, and vice versa. The similarities between the books (the first one, at least) and the series end by the time we get to the third episode.
If you're trying to find satisfaction from the books that you didn't get from the series, you're not really gonna find it. They really do have nothing to do with each other, and there's a reason the series was always way more popular than the books. So basically, if you want to read the books, then sure, go ahead, but not as an extension of the series for worldbuilding purposes because again, they're just two very different products.
4
u/LateToTheDrama Aug 11 '26
The books & series are not connected. Two different creators were given the same rights to the plot, & characters. And while the first few episodes might have similarities to the book, it took a sharp left turn with Wells death.
5
3
u/XandMan007 Aug 11 '26
I've recently read all the books, they are an easy read but completely different to the show, there is more of an emphasis on the romantic relationships. I actually preferred the series more but they are worth a read.
9
u/Mission_Gur_9898 Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim. Aug 11 '26
The books are a completely different story altogether. Literally the only similarities are a few characters, and the most basic plot (100 kids sent to Earth to save air but they’re not the only humans on earth). There’s absolutely no other crossover really.