CW Upfronts: ‘The 100’ Preview and Trailer (Midseason)

The CW presented its 2013-14 primetime slate to advertisers on Thursday morning. Since the network only has a limited amount of nights and hours to work with, CW only picked up five new dramas this pilot season. Three will air in the fall while the remaining two are being held for midseason.

Check out The CW’s official The 100 description below.

Ninety-seven years ago, nuclear Armageddon decimated planet Earth, destroying civilization. The only survivors were the 400 inhabitants of 12 international space stations that were in orbit at the time. Three generations have been born in space, the survivors now number 4,000, and resources are running out on their dying “Ark” ─ the 12 stations now linked together and repurposed to keep the survivors alive.

Draconian measures, including capital punishment and population control, are the order of the day, as the leaders of the Ark take ruthless steps to ensure their future, including secretly exiling a group of 100 juvenile prisoners to the Earth’s surface to test whether it’s habitable. For the first time in nearly a century, humans have returned to planet Earth.

Among the 100 exiles are Clarke (Eliza Taylor), the bright teenage daughter of the Ark’s chief medical officer; Wells (Eli Goree), son of the Ark’s Chancellor; the daredevil Finn (Thomas McDonell); and the brother/sister duo Bellamy (Bob Morley) and Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos), whose illegal sibling status has always led them to flaunt the rules. Technologically blind to what’s happening on the planet below them, the Ark’s leaders — Clarke’s widowed mother, Abby (Paige Turco); the Chancellor, Jaha (Isaiah Washington); and his shadowy second in command, Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) — are faced with difficult decisions about life, death and the continued existence of the human race.

For the 100 young people on Earth, however, the alien planet they’ve never known is a mysterious realm that can be magical one moment and lethal the next. With the survival of the human race entirely in their hands, the 100 must find a way to transcend their differences, unite and forge a new path on a wildly changed Earth that’s primitive, intense and teeming with the unknown.

The series also stars Kelly Hu as Cece, Christopher Larkin as Monty and Devon Bostick as Jasper. Based on the upcoming book series by Kass Morgan, The 100 is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Alloy Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios with executive producers Matthew Miller (“Human Target,” “Chuck”), Jason Rothenberg (upcoming “Twilight Zone” feature), Bharat Nalluri (“Torchwood,” “Emily Owens, M.D.”), Leslie Morgenstein (“The Vampire Diaries”) and Gina Girolamo (“The Secret Circle”). The pilot was directed by Bharat Nalluri.

The 100 will air midseason on The CW.