Every Time Syfy’s ‘The Ark’ Mirrored The CW’s ‘The 100’: From the Title to Similar Story Lines

Credit: The CW; SYFY

Every Time Syfy's 'The Ark' Mirrored The CW's 'The 100': From the Title to Similar Story Lines

Like looking in a mirror? Syfy's The Ark tells a story of humans trying to survive in space in an attempt to rebuild their planet — a concept many fans believe sounds eerily similar to that of The CW's The 100. The Ark, which premiered in February 2023, focused on a group of people who were on a mission to find an inhabitable planet. Unfortunately, their space trip took a turn when an unexplained disaster woke them up early and forced them to try and live long enough to make it to the ground. Ahead of The Ark's premiere, showrunner Jonathan Glassner opened up about the vision for the series. “It’s set only probably 100 years from now. So, it’s old technology that has been pushed to the limit to make these ships try to rescue people off of Earth which is collapsing. And we go with one of the ships and have all kinds of fun adventures," he told The Companion in September 2022. "It’s really a survival show. It could almost be set on an island somewhere and be just the same." At the time, eagle-eyed fans noticed the possible connections between The Ark and The 100. The post-apocalyptic show, which ran from 2014 until 2020 on The CW, explored survival through the lens of teen delinquents being sent to find out if Earth is a safe environment a century after a nuclear disaster forced humanity into space. After seven seasons of death and destruction, creator Jason Rothenberg discussed how he attempted to end The 100 on a positive note. "We wanted the moral of the story to be, simply stated, 'Until we stop fighting, we're doomed.' Until we stop killing each other in the name of country or tribe or even family, we're doomed to keep repeating that cycle of violence," he told Entertainment Weekly in September 2020. "And once we do and we link arms and we realize we're all in this together, then we can get to whatever comes next." Rothenberg continued: "As dark as the show has been at times, I feel like the ending — and I always say I was not trying to make people feel good most of the time and the show is not a show that was supposed to bring you joy, it's supposed to move you and make you feel sad or angry even — but here we were definitely aiming for people walking away feeling uplifted." In response to the show's controversial storytelling choices, the screenwriter said he didn't approach the finale with fans in mind. "First of all, the whole show is written, season after season, long before it airs, so there’s nothing we could do once people start reacting to episodes as they air, certainly within a season," he shared with KSite TV that same month. "The show obviously is hard to watch sometimes. It’s not designed to be a pleasant, enjoyable, happy ride. If you can’t sign up for a ride like that, knowing that you’re going to lose characters that you love, for instance, then you shouldn’t. Don’t watch the show if you cannot handle losing characters that you love." Scroll down to see all the similarities between The 100 and The Ark:

Credit: The CW; SYFY

Every Time Syfy's 'The Ark' Mirrored The CW's 'The 100': From the Title to Similar Story Lines

Like looking in a mirror? Syfy's The Ark tells a story of humans trying to survive in space in an attempt to rebuild their planet — a concept many fans believe sounds eerily similar to that of The CW's The 100. The Ark, which premiered in February 2023, focused on a group of people who were on a mission to find an inhabitable planet. Unfortunately, their space trip took a turn when an unexplained disaster woke them up early and forced them to try and live long enough to make it to the ground. Ahead of The Ark's premiere, showrunner Jonathan Glassner opened up about the vision for the series. “It’s set only probably 100 years from now. So, it’s old technology that has been pushed to the limit to make these ships try to rescue people off of Earth which is collapsing. And we go with one of the ships and have all kinds of fun adventures," he told The Companion in September 2022. "It’s really a survival show. It could almost be set on an island somewhere and be just the same." At the time, eagle-eyed fans noticed the possible connections between The Ark and The 100. The post-apocalyptic show, which ran from 2014 until 2020 on The CW, explored survival through the lens of teen delinquents being sent to find out if Earth is a safe environment a century after a nuclear disaster forced humanity into space. After seven seasons of death and destruction, creator Jason Rothenberg discussed how he attempted to end The 100 on a positive note. "We wanted the moral of the story to be, simply stated, 'Until we stop fighting, we're doomed.' Until we stop killing each other in the name of country or tribe or even family, we're doomed to keep repeating that cycle of violence," he told Entertainment Weekly in September 2020. "And once we do and we link arms and we realize we're all in this together, then we can get to whatever comes next." Rothenberg continued: "As dark as the show has been at times, I feel like the ending — and I always say I was not trying to make people feel good most of the time and the show is not a show that was supposed to bring you joy, it's supposed to move you and make you feel sad or angry even — but here we were definitely aiming for people walking away feeling uplifted." In response to the show's controversial storytelling choices, the screenwriter said he didn't approach the finale with fans in mind. "First of all, the whole show is written, season after season, long before it airs, so there’s nothing we could do once people start reacting to episodes as they air, certainly within a season," he shared with KSite TV that same month. "The show obviously is hard to watch sometimes. It’s not designed to be a pleasant, enjoyable, happy ride. If you can’t sign up for a ride like that, knowing that you’re going to lose characters that you love, for instance, then you shouldn’t. Don’t watch the show if you cannot handle losing characters that you love." Scroll down to see all the similarities between The 100 and The Ark:

Credit: SYFY

The Ark

Syfy's The Ark is named after a ship launched into space in search of a hospitable planet for humanity. Meanwhile, in The 100, humans took to space after Earth became inhabitable and the space station was titled The Ark.

Credit: Cate Cameron/The CW

The Pods

In the series premiere of The Ark, viewers were introduced to the main characters when they awoke from their pods to chaos on the ship. They explained that they were put to sleep in the pods until they reached a potential new planet.

During season 5 of The 100, the heroes went into cryo sleep for 10 years after Earth was destroyed again. The decision came in hopes of a potential return to the ground after a decade — with Bellamy (Bob Morley) and Clarke (Eliza Taylor) instead waking up first after 100 years.

Credit: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY

The General Synopsis

According to Syfy, The Ark takes place 100 years in the future "when planetary colonization missions have begun as a necessity to help secure the survival" of the human race. As a result, the first of these missions is sent out only to encounter "a catastrophic event causing massive destruction" and loss of life. The remaining crew must come together to reach their target planet — even though they have a year left to go — and they must survive amid a lack of supplies and leadership.

CW's The 100 followed a group of juvenile delinquents who are the first people sent to Earth after a nuclear apocalypse wiped out the planet 100 years prior. They attempted to inhabit their home again while battling it out with descendants of survivors and natural disasters occurring on the ground.

Credit: Cate Cameron/The CW

Characters Who Impersonate Other People

A major plot point in the first few episodes of The 100 was Bellamy's journey to the ground with his sister. After finding out that Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) would be sent to Earth, he pretended to be a guard to get his way onto the ship.

In The Ark's pilot episode, the leaders figured out that one member of their team lied about his identity to join their mission. Before the fake Jasper's (Chris Leask) death, he hinted that there are more imposters onboard. Harris (Dominik Cicak), who was in a secret relationship with Eva (Tiana Upcheva), presumably lied about his identity as well. 

Credit: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY

The Thematic Story Lines

Syfy's new series is focused on a group of people who must survive under unexpected circumstances to reach their target planet. This includes a lack of supplies, threats from within and risks from space itself.

The 100 relied heavily on the theme of survival as the original delinquents spent seven seasons trying to find their ultimate home. From trials and tribulations on Earth to wars on other planets, the story at the center of the show was about helping the human race.

Credit: Cate Cameron/The CW

Individual Arcs

The Ark explained that each person was on the mission because they brought a specific skill to help colonization on the potential planet. Based off the events in the pilot, Angus (Ryan Adams) attempted to build his take on a greenhouse in the ship, which resembled The 100's Monty (Christopher Larkin). The character on The CW show was an agriculture scientist who tried to replenish crops using a hydro farm in season 5.

Credit: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY

Fight for Leadership

In the CW series, Clarke struggled to be in charge of the others due to obstacles created by Bellamy and Murphy. Meanwhile, in the Syfy show, Sharon's position is questioned by fellow high-ranking members Spencer and James.