The 100: Lola Flanery on Madi's Backstory, Meeting Heroes from Clarke's Stories & More!
Yana Grebenyuk
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The 100 on The CW continues to find success in its season finale twists and in the introduction of new characters that quickly become fan favorites.
Lola Flanery joined the show as Madi, with her debut premiering on The 100 Season 5 Episode 1. Madi is a Nightblood that Clarke meets on Earth when she thinks she is the only one left. Together, the two form a bond that has them slowly becoming the only family the other has over the next six years.
Flanery, an incredibly skilled and scene-stealing actress, is already making a name for herself in projects like Shadowhunters, Home Again, Mary Kills People, and The Mist.
A recent addition on The 100, Lola has already managed to carve out devoted a place for herself within The 100 fandom, with many fans already promising to protect Madi with their life.
Taking some time out to talk with us, Flanery talked about Madi's connections so far and teased a little about what is to come now that everyone on the show will be in one place again.
What can you share with us about Madi's backstory?
So Madi's backstory is that since she is a Nightblood, her parents have always told her to hide from the Flamekeeper scouts because they don't want her to be carted off to join the conclave and fight in the conclave. So I feel like her parents have always taught her to hide.
And then after Praimfaya, Madi has been all alone and what she does best is to hide, so I feel like that also helped her while being alone until she found Clarke. When she found Clarke, it was just a whole big relief for Madi because she has someone that she can spend her time with any kind of trust.
Related: The 100 Season 5 Episode 3 Review
In the next few episodes, the people from the bunker and space are all coming together again. After it being only Madi and Clarke for so long, how does Madi feel about meeting all these people that she has heard so much about?
Madi does know that frankly, she can trust all the new people coming down because she has been told that they are kind of hero figures.
I can say that she is going to form relationships and bonds with Clarke's friends, but I mean let's just say that not all of them will welcome Madi with open arms.
That is funny that you mention that because Madi and Echo meeting for the first time ends with Echo thinking Madi could be a threat and getting her sword ready. What can you say about the way Madi and Echo could continue to interact?
Clarke has told Madi about all of her friends up in the sky and down there.
I feel like Clarke has told Madi about every single one of them, including Echo, but there is not much I can say.
In the episode Sleeping Giants, Bellamy and Madi have their anticipated introduction to one another. Where could things go from here or what did Clarke tell Madi about Bellamy to make her trust him so much right away?
So Clarke has told Madi about them and Madi kind of sees them as heroes and these awesome people that are like a fairytale story. So Madi kind of sees them as these heroic beings, definitely from stories.
But for Bellamy, Clarke has told Madi so much about Bellamy, so I feel like Madi already knows a lot about him. Madi does form a bond and knows about Bellamy. Madi does see Bellamy as this huge heroic, awesome figure.
Now, what about maybe Octavia and Ethan? Madi comes from a world of peace and happiness while Ethan has only really seen chaos and violence. What could that friendship look like?
There is not much I could say there. I can't guarantee you that they will or will not meet but what I can say is that it is The 100 so let's just say that it won't be a normal 12-year-old friendship and they won't be sharing their trig homework.
How has Clarke's artistic ability influenced Madi in the six years that they have been together?
That's a really cool question. Wow.
This was actually submitted by a fan (@LaurenBusser).
It is? Oh. Hi, fan who wrote this! If you are reading this, hello!
Oh my gosh that is a really tough question. I mean aside from the fact that Madi loves the pictures that Clarke drew and loves them because she gets to see these people that Clarke knows in the form of artwork, that is pretty cool. But yeah, I don't know.
Related: The 100 Season 5 Episode 3 Preview: The Wait is Finally Over
Are there any characters or relationships that you enjoy as a fan of the show?
For me, my favorite character would probably be Murphy (Richard Harmon) because he is so funny and sarcastic.
What about Clarke?
Well yeah, aside from the obvious! Of course, it would be Clarke because she is kind of Madi's guidance counselor in a way. Clarke is sort of everything to Madi.
You mentioned that you are interested in directing further on in your career, did you have any chance to observe the directing that took place on set?
Every once in a while I would be on set after my scenes, I would get to kind of watch all the directing happening and all the acting happening not with me. Like in episode 5x03 and I got to see a couple of the other episodes too!
Is there any one of those episodes that you are really excited for fans to see?
Probably [The 100 Season 5 Episode Season 3] because it is the first chapter that takes place in the present day and we are all caught up now.
Related: The 100 Renewed For Season 6 at The CW!
What was it like learning the grounder language?
It was really hard! Like I can speak other languages like French and Mandarin so at first, I thought it would be pretty easy, I was really wrong. It was really hard, and you also have to know kind of what it means too, it was intense.
Is there anything you want the fans to know or that you want to share with the fans of The 100?
Well first off if I am speaking to the fans: Hi, I love you all! Have a great day!
Aside from that, I really hope they just enjoy the whole season, and I'm really excited for them to see Season 5 in general.
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The 100 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
Yana Grebenyuk was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in April 2021.
