‘The 100 Q&A: Brenda Strong On Playing Ice Nation Queen Nia

On “The 100,” Ice Queen
Nia has been working behind the scenes to bring war.

All that changes on Thursday night
when Nia comes face-to-face with the woman she wants to bring down – Lexa – and the
woman whose head she put a bounty on — Wanheda, aka Clarke.

“Dallas” alum Brenda Strong
told Access Hollywood that playing the role of the fierce queen of Ice
Nation, Nia, has been “exciting.”

WATCH: Eliza Taylor: Can Clarke Trust Lexa On The CW’s ‘The 100’?

“There’s a rawness to this
character and I’m actually hoping most people don’t realize that it’s me and
are surprised when they look up Queen Nia to find out, because it is a bit of
a departure,” Brenda told Access.

“I’ve been such a sci-fi fan
my entire life. To be able to step into such an extraordinarily well-developed
epic world of ‘The 100’ is such an honor to me and I just – I have so much
respect for Jason [Rothenberg, ‘The 100’s’ executive producer] and his vision
and he was really instrumental in kind of helping Nia develop her look, both
from a makeup and costume perspective,” she added. “He was very
involved in the process, so it was exciting to kind of find her together.”

WATCH: ‘The 100’: Alycia Debnam-Carey On Clarke & Lexa In Season 3

Brenda told Access more about her theories regarding why Queen Nia wants Lexa
dead, and how she feels about Lexa imprisoning her TV son, Roan (Zach
McGowan).

AccessHollywood.com: What is
[Nia’s] beef with Wanheda and Lexa? Why can’t she get along with them?
Brenda Strong: Ultimately, I think the truth is whenever you have someone
in power who thinks they know what’s best for their people, and they’re
fiercely protective of their people, and it’s in direct opposition to what
someone else thinks is right for their people, you’re going to have war, and I
think that is really the thrust — is she wants power, because it’s what she
feels will be best for her people. I’m guessing and I’m extrapolating and it’s
my conjecture, it’s certainly not something Jason [Rothenberg] told me, but I’m
thinking, based on the fact that the Ice Nation comes from a colder climate,
there may be something in the planetary shift that is forcing them into a
different area, and she needs to somehow take power so that her nation can
survive. That’s my guess. Again, he hasn’t necessarily told me that, but my
guess is that very much like our planet, when the resources start drying up,
tribes have to move. It’s been the history of this planet, and you can see
migrations happen based on availability of other environmental factors to
support life. So I honestly think that her need to take over Lexa has more to
do with survival of her clan than anything else, but she probably doesn’t like
her very much either (laughs). So it’s just an added bonus that she’s getting
to be in direct conflict with her.

Access: [Lexa] has your son and
he’s imprisoned – Roan. Is Nia worried at all about her baby boy?
Brenda: You know, I don’t think Nia
worries a lot. I think Nia’s very calculated and I think she has thought
through all of the different ramifications of Roan’s banishment and what that
will mean not only for him, but for her people and I think in a way, she’s
grooming him to be the leader that she knows he potentially can be and the
banishment was probably an aspect of that — and possibly even a ploy to get
him deeper into the environment where she wants to take over. So I don’t think
she makes a move without thinking it all the way through and I do think she
loves her son deeply and respects him, but I also think that she’s grooming
him. I don’t think it sits very well with him, however (laughs). And sometimes,
like we do with our children, we have to make very difficult decisions that
they don’t always understand, but as they get older, they start to understand
the logic of it a little bit better.

Access: There’s a big fight coming up in this episode, what can you tell us about filming it?

Brenda: Similar in some respects to filming a courtroom scene, there was a lot of block shooting that we did in order to maximize daylight. Our director Ed Fraiman was so incredible and incredibly patient. It’s a very complex sequence of events that kind of culminates in the arc of the [episode] and it reminds me of kind of this epic, gladiator kind of scene. It’s just very exciting, the dynamic cultural cross references that Jason has incorporated into this world. I think he touches on a lot of history and you see elements of it, and it just keeps making the environment richer and richer and richer with every episode. And obviously, you know [with] tribes, warring tribes, there’s going to be fights – [there are] always fights and this one I think is pretty, pretty doggone epic. I can’t say more than that, but I can say do not blink. It’s going to be phenomenal and surprising and really exciting.

WATCH: Eliza Taylor On Clarke’s ‘The 100’ Season 3 Journey

“The 100” airs Thursday
at 9/8c on The CW.

— Jolie Lash