Riverdale (2017 TV Series)

''Riverdale'' is an American television series based on the characters of Archie Comics by Archie Comics' chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and is produced by Warner Bros. Television and CBS Studios, in association with Berlanti Productions and Archie Comics. Conceived as a feature film adaptation for Warner Bros. Pictures, the idea was re-imagined as a television series for Fox. In 2015, development on the project moved to The CW, where the series was ordered for a pilot. Filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The series featured an ensemble cast based on the characters of Archie Comics, with KJ Apa in the role of Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, and Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, the series' narrator. After a teenager was murdered within the town of Riverdale, this group of teenagers try to unravel the evils lurking within the town.

''Riverdale'' premiered on January 26, 2017, to positive reviews throughout its first few seasons, although subsequent seasons were criticized for the writing, direction, and lack of coherent storylines. The series ran for seven seasons until August 23, 2023.

Cast and characters

* KJ Apa as Archie Andrews: A former high school football player who has a passion for music. He is a former sergeant in the army and is now an RROTC instructor at his old high school. He is deeply involved with protecting his community from any danger. He is childhood best friends with Betty Cooper as they are next door neighbours and best friends with Jughead Jones. He dated Veronica Lodge in high school; however, the two break up after he kisses and writes a song for Betty. Later, he begins a relationship with Betty whom he proposes to in the season six finale.
* Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper: A smart woman who is best friends with Archie, who she has a longtime crush on. She becomes friends with Veronica Lodge when she moves to town. In high school, she dates Jughead who she runs the school paper with. She breaks up with Jughead before moving to college. She becomes an FBI agent and operates from Riverdale. She ends up in a relationship with Archie and becomes engaged to him in the season 6 finale. During the series finale, it is revealed that she never married but adopted a daughter as a single mom.
* Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge: A former "it girl" of Manhattan, she moves to Riverdale at the beginning of the series with hopes of becoming a better person after she is forced to reflect on her life, due to the sudden imprisonment of her father. She is shown to be ambitious to the extreme with a strong desire to succeed while simultaneously trying to remain uncorrupted and humble. She dates Archie during high school and Reggie too when Archie is in juvie. After a time jump in season five, she had an extremely successful career on Wall Street that she had to give up after getting stuck in a toxic relationship with her abusive husband whom she divorces later on. She is later Reggie's girlfriend again—they break up in season 6.
* Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones: A philosophically inclined social outcast who is Archie's best friend and Betty's ex-boyfriend. He was the former leader of the Southside Serpents gang. He is now a published writer, English teacher, and an advisor at the Blue and Gold high school newspaper and is struggling with alcoholism. He is dating Tabitha Tate and can read minds following the explosion at Archie's house. Sprouse also portrays an alternate Jughead who protects the Riverdale and Rivervale timelines from merging.
* Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge (née Gomez) (seasons 1–5; guest, seasons 6–7): Veronica's mother, who returned to Riverdale with her daughter following the incarceration of her husband Hiram Lodge. She is now a reality star on Real Housewives of New York after leaving Hiram. She had feelings for Fred as a teenager and again when she returned to Riverdale.
* Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom: A wealthy, traumatized, and sometimes manipulative woman who was a classmate of Archie and his friends. She dated Toni during high school. Cheryl came out as a lesbian in season two and dated Toni, until they broke up because of her disapproving family. She is now the owner of Blossom Maple Farms, living with her Nana and the cheerleading coach at the high school.
* Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy (seasons 1–4; guest, seasons 5 and 7): The lead singer of Josie and the Pussycats and a former classmate of Archie, whom she briefly dates, and his friends. She leaves at the end of season 3 to pursue her music, though she briefly returns in the season 4 premiere for Archie's father's funeral; this allowed Murray's character to join Katy Keene, the third spin off in the Riverdale universe. She is now a multi-platinum superstar.
* Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper (née Smith): Betty and Polly's mother, who was the editor of the local paper. She is now a reporter for the Riverdale news and is raising Polly's twin children following Polly's murder in season 5, she is also shown to be less abusive having redeemed herself. Prior to his leaving in season 5, she was in a relationship with FP Jones.
* Luke Perry as Fred Andrews (seasons 1–3): Archie's father, who owned a construction company. He was in love with Veronica's mother as a teenager and briefly reunites with her when she returns to Riverdale. He dies at the start of season 4 in a car accident due to Perry's real life death.
* Mark Consuelos as Hiram Lodge (born Jaime Luna) (seasons 2–5; guest, seasons 6–7): Veronica's father, who was recently incarcerated for illegal activities. In season 2 he moves to Riverdale, continuing his illegal activities and gangster ways. He was later killed in season 6 when Veronica ordered a hit on him.
* Casey Cott as Kevin Keller (seasons 2–7; recurring season 1): An openly gay former Riverdale high school student who is friends with Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead and is the son of Riverdale's sheriff. He returns to Riverdale becoming a teacher after not making it in Broadway in New York and abandons the son he planned to have with Toni and Fangs. He later files for sole custody over baby Anthony eventually giving this up to create peace. He reunites with his high school boyfriend Moose in season 6.
* Skeet Ulrich as F.P. Jones (seasons 2–5; recurring season 1): Jughead's formerly estranged father and the former leader of the Southside Serpents, a gang of criminals that live and operate on the fringes of Riverdale. He was once the sheriff but left Riverdale to take Jughead's sister Jellybean back to Toledo to her mother. Prior to his leaving he was in a relationship with Alice Cooper.
* Charles Melton as Reggie Mantle (seasons 3–7; recurring season 2): Archie's long-time friend and rival, a former football player at Riverdale High and town prankster who has dyslexia. He is now the owner of his family's car dealership and the high school football coach as well as Veronica's boyfriend. Reggie was originally played by Ross Butler in the first season, who left the series due to his commitments to filming ''13 Reasons Why''. Butler returned as a version of Reggie from an alternate universe in " Chapter One Hundred: The Jughead Paradox" from season six. Reggie and Veronica break up in season 6 following the opening of their casino. In the season 6 finale he takes sole ownership of the casino.

* Vanessa Morgan as Toni Topaz (seasons 3–7; recurring season 2): A bisexual member of the Southside Serpents, who is best friends with Jughead in the second season. She was in a relationship with Cheryl. She is now the leader of the Southside Serpents, the high school guidance counselor and is raising a son with her boyfriend and later husband Fangs after agreeing to be a surrogate for him and his former on and off again boyfriend Kevin. In season 7, set in the 1950s she is dating Cheryl again.
* Drew Ray Tanner as Fangs Fogarty (seasons 5–7; recurring season 2–4): a member of the Southside Serpents and Kevin's former on-and-off again boyfriend. He is a trucker and has a son with Toni after Kevin broke up with him. He and Toni marry midway season 6.
* Erinn Westbrook as Tabitha Tate (seasons 5–7): Pop Tate's granddaughter and Jughead's love interest.

Episodes

Production

Development

Warner Bros. began development on an ''Archie'' feature film in 2013, after a pitch from writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and director Jason Moore that would have placed Archie's gang into a teen comedy feature film in the John Hughes tradition. The duo brought the project to Warner Bros., where a VP recommended a more high-concept direction involving time travel or interdimensional portals, suggesting Louis C. K. to portray an older Archie. Dan Lin and Roy Lee became producers on the project, which eventually stalled as priorities shifted at the studio towards larger tentpole films, and was reimagined as a television series. The series ''Riverdale'' was in development at Fox, with the network landing the project in 2014 with a script deal plus penalty. However, Fox did not go forward with the project. In 2015, the show's development was moved to the CW, which officially ordered a pilot on January 29, 2016. On March 7, 2017, The CW announced that the series had been renewed for a second season. On April 2, 2018, The CW renewed the series for a third season, which premiered October 10, 2018. On January 31, 2019, The CW renewed the series for a fourth season, that was planned to consist of 22 episodes. However, season four got shortened to 19 episodes instead because production was suspended on March 11, 2020, as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic. Only 19 of the 22 ordered episodes of the fourth season were completed before the coronavirus pandemic. The fourth season premiered on October 9, 2019.

" Chapter Forty-Nine: Fire Walk with Me" was the first to be dedicated to Luke Perry, who died two days before the episode aired.

On January 7, 2020, the series was renewed for a fifth season, which began a year later on January 20, 2021.

On February 3, 2021, the series was renewed for a sixth season which was split into two parts, and it premiered on November 16, 2021. On March 22, 2022, The CW renewed the series for a seventh season. On May 19, 2022, it was announced that the series will be concluding with its upcoming seventh season, which premiered on March 29, 2023. The series finale aired on August 23, 2023.

Casting

On February 9, 2016, Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse were cast as Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones, respectively. On February 24, 2016, KJ Apa was cast as Archie Andrews after a four-month worldwide talent search. Apa was one of the last to audition and landed the role just days later. Also that day, Ashleigh Murray was cast as Josie McCoy, the lead singer for the popular band Josie and the Pussycats, and Luke Perry and Madelaine Petsch were also added as Fred Andrews, Archie's father, and Cheryl Blossom, respectively. Two days later, Camila Mendes was cast as Veronica Lodge marking her first acting role in a television show.

In March 2016, Marisol Nichols and Mädchen Amick joined the cast as Hermione Lodge and Alice Cooper, Veronica and Betty's mothers, respectively. A few days later, Ross Butler, Daniel Yang and Cody Kearsley were cast in the roles Reggie Mantle, Dilton Doiley and Moose Mason, respectively. The last actor to join the pilot was Casey Cott as Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character in Archie Comics

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