Comic-Con: ‘Riverdale’ Season 2 Trailer Debuts, Explores Darker Side of Archie And The Gang
The season finale of the debut season of Riverdale found a lot up in the air. Archie (KJ Apa) and Veronica (Camila Mendes) made their relationship official while, while Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) declared their true love for each other — before the brooding writer joined the joined the Southside Serpents. The biggest cliffhanger was the shooting of Fred (Luke Perry) and the robbing of Pop’s. This year’s Comic-Con marked the second year for the Riverdale gang and Apa, Reinhart, Mendes, Sprouse, Madelaine Petsch, Ashleigh Murray, Casey Cott, Haley Law, and Asha Bromfield and Executive Producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa shared as much as they could about the upcoming season which premieres on the CW on October 11.
The sophomore run for the Twin Peaks-meets-Dawson’s Creek adaptation of the classic comic series will go from 13 episodes from the first season to 22 episodes, and Aguirre-Sacasa says that the first episode will answer a huge question from the season finale. “By the end of the first episode, we will know who shot Fred,” he said.
The teaser shown at the panel shows the repercussions of the season finale and introduces us to what the panel refers to as “Dark Archie” All of which presents obstacles for the characters — mainly for the red-headed heartthrob. “There’s a switch that goes off and I think it’s a different side of Archie we haven’t seen yet,” said Apa.
In the short video, Archie is carrying his father into the hospital as he is scrambling for help. The rest of the gang arrives and Archie tries to figure out what happened. Pop Tate (Alvin Sanders) says “It was like the angel of death had come to Riverdale.” It then cuts to Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) at the bedside of her mother whose face is covered in bandages saying “Things are going to be different now Mommy, you’ll see.”
The subversive take on the lighthearted property seems to be doubling down on the darkness as the cast talks about the journey of their characters. Mendes says that Veronica’s ex from New York shows up and brings out a different, darker side of her. As for Betty, Reinhart says “Last season we saw some dark Betty but this season it’s more like tortured soul Betty.”
The new season will also feature new faces including previously announced Mark Consuelos who plays Veronica’s dad as well as Charles Melton, who will be replacing Ross Butler as Reggie. Also joining the cast is Vanessa Morgan as Toni Topaz, an openly bisexual character from the comics to which Aguirre-Sacasa says is fun and will stir things up for the characters.
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