When the CW first announced details about its Archie Comics adaptation series Riverdale, it sounded strange. The network teased the show as a dark and gritty reimagining of the bright and quaint comics. It was a weird idea, but paid off with the delightfully campy and compellingly mysterious first season of Riverdale. And now, the show's doubling down on the darkness for Season 2.
According to Cole Sprouse, who plays the brooding, reclusive Jughead Jones in arguably the most drastic departure from the Archie Comics, next season of Riverdale will be even darker and stranger than the first.
Cole spilled the deets in an interview with TVLine:
I think the whole show is going to be getting darker and stranger. We're going to be leaning into a lot of those qualities that a lot of people ended up loving in the first couple of episodes — this heavy cinematography, this overbearing coloration, this really dark content that's kind of over-the-top and campy, but it's taken very seriously.
Wow, even darker than the first season... which, may I remind you, included a bunch of murders, suicide, arson, drug trafficking, you name it. The show certainly didn't give us the idyllic, little '50s town that comic readers were familiar with, and it sounds like we're only going to get further from milkshakes-and-burgers Riverdale and deeper into mysteries-and-blood Riverdale.
One thing that might help make the show even stranger next season is the introduction of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Viewers were expecting her to pop up in the first season finale, but that didn't appear to happen, so now we're looking to Season 2 to introduce the fan-favorite witch. Fans are already assuming the Disney star Dove Cameron will take on the role, but nothing is official yet.
Another change for Season 2 that we already know about is that football star Reggie will be played by model and actor Charles Melton instead of first season actor Ross Butler, who left the show presumably to focus on his role in 13 Reasons Why.
Riverdale's second season doesn't have a premiere date yet, but the show will likely return next year.
Citations: Riverdale Video: Cole Sprouse Ponders Jughead's Dark Turn in Season 2, Reflects Fondly Upon First Love Scene (TV Line)
