'The 100' Series Finale Countdown: How JR Bourne played two very different villains in the final two seasons
Spoilers for Seasons 6 and 7 of 'The 100'
JR Bourne is a household name if you are a sci-fi/fantasy fan. The Canadian actor has proved to be a staple of the genre since the late 90s, appearing in hits such as 'Stargate SG-1', 'Fringe', 'Teen Wolf' and 'Arrow'. His skills are already known but with his entry in 'The 100' on the post-apocalyptic series' sixth season, Bourne has reached new heights, playing two completely different villains in the final two seasons of The CW series.
In Season 6, we first met JR Bourne as Russell Lightbourne VII, that is, the seventh avatar of the character after the original Russell along with the help of the original Gabriel Santiago (played by Chuku Modu in Seasons 6 and 7) developed Becca Franco's (Erica Cerra) mind drives to adapt them to transfer a person's soul and mind to another body.
As Russell, Bourne was a suave, charismatic person whose primary motivations were to bring back his family, especially his daughter, Josephine (played by both Sara Thompson and Eliza Taylor). Russell seemed at first trustworthy and friendly — until, of course, we learned about how the Primes had managed to "live" for centuries.
Bourne played Russell one last time in the season premiere of the final season of 'The 100', where Russell was awaiting sentencing by Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor). While Clarke spares him, during her meltdown in the episode, Russell is knocked out, giving Sheidheda a chance to upload his code into Russell's mind drive, kill Russell in his mind space and then take over the body. There began Bourne's radical transformation to one of the season's and the series' most violent villains.
Before Bourne, only two other actors had prominently played two different roles (we are not counting Paige Turco here, who played both Abby Griffin and Simone Lightbourne VII, the latter only briefly). There is, of course, Erica Cerra who played the human, Becca Franco, and the artificial intelligence system, A.L.I.E.
There was also Eliza Taylor who plays the show's protagonist Clarke Griffin, but also played Josephine Lightbourne VIII for seven episodes in the sixth seasons. Both actresses managed to convincingly play wildly different characters.
It is Bourne, however, who takes that to an entirely new level. After Sheidheda took over Russell's body, he first plays Sheidheda pretending to be Russell. When Indra (Adina Porter) discovers who he really is, he plays a toned-down version of the character. It is in the tenth episode of Season 7, titled 'A Little Sacrifice' that Bourne's Sheidheda breaks out in his full glory, even going on to don the complete Grounder garb including the warpaint, the extensions and the outfits.
As Sheidheda, Bourne plays a more outright villain, one who is motivated just by power and nothing else. Sheidheda makes what he wants directly known and while he does know how to strategize (which we see him doing when he manipulated the Faithful, the Children of Gabriel, and the Eligius prisoners to do his bidding), he would rather prefer to fight with a sword in a direct battle than anything else.
As Sheidheda, Bourne also got to do way more action scenes and while our favorite one is when Sheidheda and Indra engage in direct combat, we also enjoyed all the times he wielded the sword, even if those scenes ended up being really bloody. That action is set to continue in the series finale which will air on September 30, and Sheidheda will be engaged in the battle with the Disciples as Clarke and the others fight to stop Bill Cadogan (John Pyper-Ferguson).
'Teen Wolf' fans would have especially enjoyed Bourne's run in 'The 100'. As Russell, Bourne was more like his 'Teen Wolf' character, Chris Argent, but with Sheidheda, fans would have gotten to see a completely new side of the actor. We cannot wait to see what the series finale has in store for us and we are especially thrilled to see how Bourne's stint on 'The 100' will end.
'The 100' series finale, 'The Last War', will air on The CW on Wednesday, September 30, at 8/7c.
