Riverdale has been a wild ride this season. After discovering the dead body of town sweetheart Jason Blossom, Riverdale has been embroiled in lies and secrets. In the last couple episodes, we’ve gotten a deeper look at just how deep the secrets go in the town. With the arrival of Archie’s mom, played by the scarlet-maned Molly Ringwald, it doesn’t look like this ride is going to slow down at all heading into the final few episodes of season one.
We spoke to some of the creators and cast members of Riverdale at Wondercon this year and got some teasers into what we could look forward to in the upcoming episodes. Sitting down with executive producers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Jon Goldwater, and Sarah Schechter, we talked a little about the expectations of the Archie comics fans and what it was like adapting the material as fans of the comics.
Aguirre-Sacasa also addressed Jughead’s sexuality in regards to Chip Zdarsky’s asexual Jughead, and the creation of the Jughead/Betty romance. There was also a definite sense that the finale would leave us all rocked to the core as we spoke to more and more of the cast, and Aguirre-Sacasa emphasized the point, saying that the finale took longer time to shoot and would be more dramatic than anything before it.
We’re no stranger to seeing KJ Apa (“Archie Andrews”) and Luke Perry (“Fred Andrews”) as father and son on screen for Riverdale, but both Apa and Perry talked about their working relationship and the bond they formed as co-stars that fed into their relationship on screen.
Apa talked about Archie’s relationship with his mom, now that she’s back in town, elaborating on the strained relationship between the two. Perry also commented on the Miss Grundy storyline from earlier in the season and the storyline that surrounded it. On top of that, we learned that after getting their script for the finale, they got a different one before the last day of shooting that seemed to shock everyone at the table read.
On the subject of diversity and representation, both Camila Mendes (“Veronica Lodge”) and Ashleigh Murray (“Josie McCoy”) talked about the diversity of the characters on the show, and playing young women of color. Murray talked about playing a strong young woman who knew what she wanted and being casted as the role of Josie. Mendes talked about Veronica’s cyberbullying arc and how she turned and spoke out against it.
Finally we chatted a little with Marisol Nichols (“Hermione Lodge”) and Mädchen Amick (“Alice Cooper”), and specifically on some things we can hope for for the next season. After seeing Alice and Hermione team up on behalf of their daughters, it looks like we might be getting some more of that in season two, along with rumors of some flashbacks for the parents next season.
And after learning that Alice came from the south side last week, it’ll be interesting to hear if this plays out or not. Amick also talked a little about Twin Peaks, and how she views the two shows in comparison. They both talked about the excitement of getting to see the immediate fan reactions from the social media and getting to share the experience through it.
Riverdale airs on The CW on Thursdays. The season one finale airs May 11th, and we’re looking forward to seeing how insane it’ll be.
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