The CW just brought a little piece of Riverdale to Comic-Con International in San Diego. Stars KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Madeleine Petsch, Vanessa Morgan, Ashleigh Miller, Casey Cott, Mark Consuelos, Skeet Ulrich, Marisol Nichols, Madchen Amick and Luke Perry and executive producers Roberto Sacasa-Aguirre, John Goldwater and Sarah Schechter arrived in Hall H to let fans in on some Season 3 secrets.
Following a quick sizzle reel of Riverdale Season 2, Kelly Rippa walked on stage to moderate the panel. She then introduced each member of the cast to the stage.
“We’ve got this great set. It’s a high school. We very rarely use it,” Sacasa-Aguirre joked. “One of the things we talked about in the writers’ room is how important junior year is… They’re thinking about college… We’re going to try to infuse this season with a lot more high school stuff… We’re going to be talking about SATs, internships, colleges, etc.”
“When we meet them in the premiere, we’re trying to maintain the peace. Jughead… with Betty and Cheryl, they’re trying to maintain the peace between the Serpents and the Goulies and Hiram,” Consuelos teased. He added that the peace will quickly “be disturbed.”
“You always need your friends to get the good stuff done, and Fred is no different,” Perry said. He will get some help from F.P. Jones and Tom Keller in the upcoming season.
“I think that Hermione is really happy to have a little power of her own. I think she’s going to use that power to kind of change the way her marriage has been for the last season. I’m really looking forward to that, and also for Hermione kind of kindling the tenuous relationship she had with Veronica,” Nichols teased.
“I think right now he’s going to focus on being a thorn in his daughter [Veronica]’s side. He really wants to get her to acquiesce and do what he wants, but she’s very stubborn,” Consuelos added. “I think they’re going to butt heads.”
“I ship Choni harder than I ship anything else,” Morgan shared. Rippa asked about the rivalry between Toni and Josie McCoy, which was met with confusion from Morgan. Sacasa-Aguirre to say they might not be aware of that yet.
“All of those bullseyes with mine,” Petsch said, referring to her infamous archery scene. “Cheryl is a place right now where she’s on a power high. She’s got a girlfriend for the first time ever. She’s emancipated. She’s still head cheerleader. I think she’s going to make some power grabs.”
“Season 3, the first episode starts off with Archie on trial for murder… We’ll see if he’s going to go away or if he’s not going to go away,” Apa explained. “The distance and separation between [Veronica and Archie] would be tough.”
“Veronica is going to be like an eutronopenur in Season 3, on top of high school. She’ll be running a speakeasy in Pop’s,” Mendes explained. “She needs to make her own money, so she’s hustling at Pop’s… We’ll show she’s now a spoiled rich girl.”
“I think they’re going to run into some problems,” she added of Veronica’s relationship with Archie.
Reinhart revealed the show will pick up three months after the Season 2 finale. “Betty spent her summer doing an internship,” she explained. “Alice and Polly kind of attack her and their new weird spirituality with the farm… Betty wants to stay far, far away from them.”
“Right now, I think they’re rock solid,” Reinhart said of Jughead and Betty’s relationship.
“It’s looking pretty solid,” Sprouse added.
“They kind of tackle one of the new mysteries of Season 3 head on and dive deep into it,” she said.
Rippa asked if Jughead’s mom and Jellybean will appear in the series. “They are coming to Riverdale,” Sprouse confirmed. They will appear in episode 8 or 9.
As to Kevin Keller’s relationship with Moose, Cott said, “It’s halfway right now… We’re trying to push [Moose] in the right direction. We’re definitely a thing, and we’ll watch him and I figure it out.”
Thanks to Tom Keller’s relationship with Sierra McCoy, Kevin will start on a new journey with Josie McCoy: “I’ve heard a rumor that we might move in together.”
“I’m hearing that we will share a bathroom and I will spend the most time in it,” Murray joked.
Asked if there will be any duos between Josie and Kevin Kelly, Sacasa-Aguirre said, “Oh yes there will be! Sooner than you think.”
F.P. “will never leave his son in lurch,” Ulrich teased. He said his character will continue to be involved with the Serpents, but in a new role.
“There will be an unlikely romance for Reggie starting in episode 3,” Sacasa-Aguirre said. “I can tell you he starts working in Veronica’s speakeasy.”
“We’ve been teasing the farm since Polly and Jason in Season 1… It felt like there was a great confluence,” Sacasa-Aguirre said and referred to a documentary on Netflix he watched recently. “Then there was the horrific Alison Mack cult.”
Asked what would happen to Betty and Jughead’s relationship if Alice and F.P. got together, Sacasa-Aguirre teased, “Tune into episode 3.”
“Betty is the Serpent Queen. She’s there. She’s doing it,” Reinhart revealed.
“We are bringing some of the Jones, as was previously announced,” Sacasa-Aguirre said. He added they are looking into an actor for Edgar Never-Never, the leader of Polly and Alice’s farm cult.
“We’re going to see Betty and Veronica being friends again. We’re going to see Archie and Jughead being friends again. We’re going to focus on the friendships,” he revealed.
“Season 3 is just the three Cooper women in the house and the two babies and the preview you just saw, it doesn’t look good for the babies,” Reinhart teased.
Returning Wednesday, Oct. 10, ET/PT on The CW, Riverdale stars KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Madeleine Petsch, Ashleigh Miller, Casey Cott, Mark Consuelos, Skeet Ulrich, Marisol Nichols, Madchen Amick and Luke Perry.
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