Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW
*Spoilers to follow if you haven’t seen the most recent episode of RIVERDALE*
Archie Andrews has left town on RIVERDALE, accompanied by his BFF Jughead. Before the two boys headed out on the road, Archie called his girlfriend Veronica to tell her he couldn’t come come, despite now being a free man. Hiram Lodge was still going to target Archie as long as he was with Veronica, so Archie made the hard choice for them to breakup. During a visit to the RIVERDALE set in Vancouver, we spoke with the cast about Archie and Jughead’s upcoming road trip, the big breakup, the potential G&G fallout for the Mayor and more.
- The Breakup. “I think Archie being in Riverdale puts [Veronica] in danger because of Hiram and stuff like that,” KJ Apa (Archie Andrews) said. “I think Archie being in Riverdale kind of puts a lot of people in danger; but most of all, puts Veronica in danger. But, that being the reason for them having to part ways means that there is still something there. You know what I mean? They didn’t part ways because of someone doing something.” That being said, there seems to be hope there for the couple because Apa says that Veronica won’t be giving up. “And I don’t think Archie is either. So, I think at the moment, it’s just the best thing for them.” Apa did acknowledge that Archie sort of put himself in this situation because of his past actions with Hiram. “He can’t blame anyone else really but himself, and it really kind of makes his relationship with Veronica that much more complicated and more interesting because in a way, you’d think that he’d want to blame her, like, [asking her] ‘why is your dad such an a**hole?’ Or worse. But, we don’t really see that because she thinks the same way about her father.”
- Hiram and Archie. How does Hiram react to the breakup? According to Mark Consuelos “he loves it. I mean, [Archie] left [Veronica] alone. He abandoned her, what could be better than that? I guess [Hiram] finding Archie and taking care of him would be better but, yeah, [this is still good for Hiram]. And he capitalizes on the fact that she’s upset so, there’s a lot of fun stuff, really fun stuff coming up in the next few episodes.” That being said, despite Hiram’s glee over Archie’s departure, Consuelos says “I think that he doesn’t like that fact that Archie’s on the run and doesn’t know exactly where he is. That’s a loose end that he needs to tighten up.”
- The Road Trip. Despite leaving town together, according to Apa, Archie and Jughead “end up finding themselves [at] like the fork in the road, [and] they have to go their separate ways at some point.” Apa also shared that Archie is “pretty much meandering [during this trip] actually. Because he’s trying to be undercover and not be seen by people, he is meandering and I think that’s frustrating for Archie. I think he is angry at the world for him being in this position.” Cole Sprouse (Jughead Jones) hinted that it’s an “Archie-Jughead narrative, which is kind of in rare supply. So you get that for a good chunk of episodes. It’s really just Archie and Jughead for a little bit and it’s a lot of fun and they’re on the lam and they’re running away, kind of [like] STAND BY ME.”
- Back to Riverdale. Despite leaving, we will see both boys eventually return to Riverdale. But going back to their normal life won’t be easy. Apa said that “I think it’s not easy because he comes back and the high school problems seem ridiculous when compared to what he went through in prison. That’s another cool kind of thing to play with. Because of that, and because of not being able to settle that well, we see him turn to other options, which are not good.” These actions when he returns “It creates a huge divide [between Archie and his friends], but again, we don’t really get to explore that too much. But for a while it creates divide where, without kind of spoiling it too much, he is kind of just spiraling into a dark kind of place, but is saved by a person and by music.”
- Jughead and G&G. One good thing about the road trip and the actions FP took in this episode is that the spell of G&G seems to have broken over Jughead. Sprouse said that “I think FP chaining him to the fridge actually did some good. I think he does break it a little bit. [The last episode] is when Jughead is really kind of lost in it the most. And then [this week’s episode] he’s sort of stepping away from it and then by the time he goes with Archie, it’s pretty much gone.”
- The Town Reacts to G&G. With everything going on in the town, Hermione might starting feeling a bit of pressure as the mayor. According to Marisol Nichols (Hermione Lodge), ” think that, similar to how the sheriff was responsible for the Black Hood and kind of took the fall for that, I don’t think it’s lost on Hermione the dangerous situation that she’s in, being the mayor, and having all of this stuff going on. And we are going to touch on that. It’s not lost on anybody, I think, which is playing that out. I mean. Riverdale’s like…what? The most unsafe town in the entire world right now? So the mayor of that town can’t help but take the fall for that, or take the responsibility for that. And I think we’re gonna see that as it goes on. Hermione’s not stupid. So she’s going to take certain actions to protect herself and to make herself look good to the people of Riverdale. I mean, it’s all chess pieces. Especially with Hiram and Hermione. They’re constantly playing chess and Hermione, to me, is just as good of a player as Hiram.”
Don’t miss an all new episode of RIVERDALE on December 5 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.