The interview that fans have been waiting for has finally arrived!
Ricky Whittle sat down with Afterbuzz TV to give an in-depth interview about Lincoln’s death on The 100, the bullying behind the scenes, and his next big project Starz American Gods. After weeks of speculation on what the heck was happening on the set of The CW show, especially after his mother’s tweets, Ricky was honest about the events that made him decide no more. He chose to walk away after months of bullying by Showrunner Jason Rothenberg.
“Lincoln wasn’t supposed to die this season, Ricky Whittle said before continuing with, “He had a whole story line that was cut, that was non-existent. It was my choice to go.”
Jason made Lincoln’s character as insignificant as possible on purpose for most of Season 2 & 3. It got to a point that Ricky wouldn’t work for weeks because his scenes were being cut significantly. Eventually it started branching out and affecting his personal life. He felt down, bullied, by a man he couldn’t understand wanted to get rid of him. And to be perfectly clear, it was never about screen time. Ricky continuously praised his cast members and talked about the support they provided him script after script when he started noticing the lack of Lincoln. The 100 is an ensemble. Eventually Ricky had enough.
“Basically Jason Rothenberg abused his position to make my job untenable. What he did was disgusting and he should be ashamed. A lot was made of something my mum said all over her Twitter. But everything he said was true. He was professionally bullying me. Cutting out all the storyline I was supposed to be doing, cutting lines, cutting everything out. Trying to make my character and myself as insignificant as possible.”
He wanted to work, get out there to explore new opportunities, and interact with his fans. (Heck, we wanted to interact more with him too!) Lincoln and his relationship with Octavia had been erased from story lines by kill orders, Mount Men who were experiment happy, and most recently by Pike when he was executed. He’d had enough. That’s when a golden opportunity arrived in the form of Starz’s American Gods. Suddenly Ricky Whittle was excited again for something!
“I feel very blessed. This (American Gods) is going to be an incredible project.”
It’s clear in this interview, and any interaction on social media, he’s excited! He just lights up talking about the muscle mass he’s gained for the role (about 25 pounds of mass) and the amazing people he’s going to have a chance to work with. Ricky practically gushed over American Gods and how he was ready to film in less than two week’s in Toronto! He even has a magic coach to teach him in Shadow’s slight of hand. How cool is that?
Despite the heavy stuff they hit in this interview, Ricky remained sweet, giving, funny, and comfortable in himself. He encouraged fans of his to continue to watch and support the show.
“Keep watching this show. Keeping watching The 100. It’s an incredible show and that’s my family and so I want to promote that you keep supporting my cast, my crew. My cast are the hardest working cast I’ve ever had the privilege of working with.”
We’re excited for Ricky Whittle’s journey into Neil Gaiman’s world of American Gods (Check out the book HERE.) It’s a new phase of his life that will replace all the bad he experienced on The 100 with some good.
Check out Ricky Whittle’s interview in the video below where he explains his new show, how his death robbed Pike of his complexity, and how Lexa was too incredible of a character to be caught by a stray bullet:
Don’t forget to head on over to @afterbuzztv and leave them some love for the great interview!